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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Originally intended as a biopic about Jessica Savitch, the TV news anchor killed in a car accident at 36 in 1983, the movie seems to be going for a female-empowerment story—definitely not Didion and Dunne’s beat—by way of screwball-comedy shtick. Nell Beram, Vogue, 8 Mar. 2025 The costumes by Colleen Atwood are predictably terrific, but this Alice is otherwise an eyesore, the apotheosis of Burton’s whimsical/magical shtick. Will Leitch, Vulture, 9 Sep. 2024 The shtick was that the powers that be had changed their minds after seeing a recut version. Raechal Shewfelt, EW.com, 18 Dec. 2024 After this, the responsibilities of playing Bush fell to Hammond and later Will Forte, who fit the character more into his own image of a silly little boy in a man’s body rather than re-enact Ferrell’s dazed and confused moron shtick. Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 15 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for shtick

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

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Shtick.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shtick. Accessed 15 Mar. 2025.

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