shtick
/ʃtɪk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.52 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A characteristic trait or theme, especially in the way people or media present themselves.
noun
A gimmick.
Example Sentences
- "Sally Marr: Lenny [Bruce] used to do a shtick between strippers. / The Interviewer: What kind of stick? / Sally Marr: No, it's shtick, darling, shtick."
- "Dag and I are drying glasses, a strangely restful activity, and we're listening to Mr. M. do his Mr. M. shtick. We feed him lines; it's like watching a Bob Hope TV special but with home viewer participation."
- "But even great shtick can get old real fast: the dreaded Saturday Night Live syndrome."
- "By its thirtieth episode, the show had degenerated into tics and shticks and mannerisms and red herrings, and part of the explanation for this was that [David] Lynch was trying to divert our attention from the fact that he really had no idea how to wrap the central murder case up."
- "The troops didn’t seem to care much about the meta-ness of Mr. [Steven] Colbert’s visit, nor were they uneasy about his political shtick as they laughed at the gags about clearing Iraq of weapons of mass destruction […]"
- "I'm never ever gonna quit 'cause / Quittin' just ain't my shtick"
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ʃtɪk/
- British English: /ʃtɪk/