ersatz

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Adjective 1.3.1 Synonyms 1.3.2 Quotations 1.4 Noun 1.4.1 Synonyms 1.4.2 Translations 2 French 2.1 Etymology 2.2 Noun

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From the German Ersatz (“‘a replacement’”); and from the German verb ersetzen (“‘to replace’”).

[edit] Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈɜːsæts/, SAMPA: /"3:s{ts/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɝsæts/, SAMPA: /"3`s{ts/

   Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Adjective

ersatz (comparative more ersatz, superlative most ersatz)

1. Made in imitation; artificial, especially of an inferior quality.

   Back then, we could only get ersatz coffee.

[edit] Synonyms

• artificial, faux, imitation, knock off

[edit] Quotations

• 1929, "Zeppelining," Time, 16 Sep.,

  Ersatzgas, Ersatzpfennige. Ersatz has become a brave word in Germany. As a substantive it means War Reparations. As part of compounded words it means substitute.

• 2001, The New Yorker, 15 Oct,

  The avant-garde's opposite number, in Greenberg's scheme, is kitsch, "ersatz culture"—art for capitalism's new man (who turns out to be no different from Fascism's or Communism's new man).

• 2003, The New Yorker, 17 & 24 Feb,

  The NATO visitors watched an ersatz eighteenth-century dance (complete with powdered wigs and simulated copulation) that might have been considered obscene had it not been so amusing.

• 2004, The New Yorker, 31 May,

  The crowd wandered out to a huge party on the ersatz city blocks of the Paramount lot.

[edit] Noun

ersatz (plural ersatzes)

1. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought): Something made in imitation; an effigy or substitute.

[edit] Synonyms

• imitation, knock off

[edit] Translations

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[edit] French

[edit] Etymology

From German Ersatz.

[edit] Noun

ersatz m. (plural ersatz)

1. ersatz