shtick

noun

variants or less commonly schtick or shtik
1
: a usually comic or repetitious performance or routine : bit
2
: one's special trait, interest, or activity : bag
he's alive and well and now doing his shtick out in HollywoodRobert Daley
shticky adjective

Examples of shtick in a Sentence

That joke is part of his shtick. Sports are just not my shtick.
Recent Examples on the Web Living in downtown New York has also had its perks, as his frequent, random run-ins with Andy Cohen, John Oliver and David Letterman have almost functioned like test runs for his red carpet shtick. Jake Kring-Schreifels, Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2024 Still, the authenticity shtick eventually grew tiresome, and then sort of repellent. Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2024 Her headline set showcased her whistling as an elegant, virtuosic instrument, punctuated with costume changes and self-aware Catskills shtick. August Brown, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2024 Their frenemy shtick was on display, for example, when Swisher interviewed Musk for Vox on Halloween in 2018. Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 26 Feb. 2024 Much of the show’s sketches took the comedian and podcaster’s white-bro shtick and dialed it back a tad — ultimately finding a sweet spot closer to the line that his routine crosses. Kevin Dolak, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Feb. 2024 Love, revenge, and vertigo shtick are seemingly on the table in the bad romance charted by Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix in director Todd Phillips' upcoming DC sequel Joker: Folie á Deux. Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 14 Feb. 2024 Here, Escola wields their catty-scary shtick as a bitter, alcoholic burlesque of Mary Todd Lincoln, complete with big black dress and dangling Civil War-era ringlets, who barges through doors in the White House and through national sanctities. Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2024 Like Marvel characters, each of the five to seven Illusionists who perform each show has a shtick: comedy, mentalism, escape magic or the like. Washington Post, 1 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shtick.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Yiddish shtik pranks, literally, piece, from Middle High German stücke, from Old High German stucki; akin to Old English stycce piece, Old High German stoc stick — more at stock entry 1

First Known Use

1959, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of shtick was in 1959

Dictionary Entries Near shtick

Cite this Entry

“Shtick.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shtick. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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