shtick

noun

ˈshtik How to pronounce shtick (audio)
variants or less commonly schtick or shtik
Synonyms of shticknext
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 Hollywood— Robert Daley
shticky
ˈshti-kē How to pronounce shtick (audio)
adjective

Synonyms

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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.
That movie has a similar shtick in that [Logan Marshall-Green’s character’s] face is disconnected from what his body is doing. — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Mar. 2025 The track, produced by Blake Slatkin and longtime Lizzo collaborator Ricky Reed, is a placid Strokes-y thumper whose riff periodically breaks free from its cage during a chorus that kicks the aughts-rock shtick back a few decades into roadhouse territory. — Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 28 Feb. 2025 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 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

Rhymes for shtick

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Browse Nearby Words

shtick
shu
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Cite this Entry

“Shtick.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shtick. Accessed 26 Mar. 2025.

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