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Glite Dictionary
kitsch

kitsch

15 8.1
Objects or art that look cheap and too sentimental but are sometimes liked as a joke
  • noun
  • /kɪtʃ/
translation icon : cursilería
  • Some consider the bright colors and exaggerated designs of this statue to be pure kitsch.
  • Avant-Garde and kitsch
  • Kitsch and popular culture

And I'm Speaking of the cinematic reenactments and memory kitsch that I think can feel pervasive these days and can sometimes threaten to numb the senses.

Examples

  • Hollywood kitsch, with Charlton Heston as the good guy, Peter Ustinov as the bad guy.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • If it is a souvenir, it can transcend kitsch, at least for your lifetime.

    Blog text (9)

  • So this is what I called the kitsch society.

  • You have to see past the kitsch.

    Greenberg (2010)

  • God, what a giant piece of kitsch theater this last war was.

    Max (2002)

  • I then went to a place called Kitson and it just has lots of little kitsch things and stuff like that.

  • The room is furnished with kitsch from Disney World and Las Vegas.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The cafes that serve Western food and drink and the shops that sell kitsch.

    Academic text (1997)

  • You crossed over from sentimentality to kitsch.

    Big Eyes (2014)

  • Milan Kundera said that kitsch was ripe to the edge of rotten, and I quite like that notion applied to this section of the film.

    Atonement (2007)

Synonyms

garishness
vskitsch
1 7.5

Things that are very bright or flashy and look unpleasant

is a broader cultural label for tasteless or sentimental items sometimes enjoyed ironically

Antonyms

elegance
47 3.5

A graceful, stylish way of looking or behaving that shows good taste

sophistication
37 6.5

Being refined and cultured with wide experience of the world

How Tacky

kitsch
15 8.1
Jesus junk
  • Slang
9.9
trinket
43 3.5
souvenir
145 2.3

Surface Forms

kitsch singular
kitsches plural

Etymology

Kitsch comes from German and was used for cheap, mass-made art or souvenirs, and it is linked to a German verb verkitschen meaning 'to make cheap'. So, calling something kitsch means it is bright, showy, or too sentimental, and people sometimes like it for that very reason.