ersatz

adjective

er·satz ˈer-ˌsäts

-ˌzäts;

er-ˈzäts,

-ˈsäts;

ˈər-ˌsats

Synonyms of ersatz next

: being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation

ersatz turf

ersatz intellectuals

ersatz noun

Did you know?

Evidence of ersatz in English dates to the middle of the 19th century, but the word didn’t come into prominence until World War I. Borrowed from German, where Ersatz is a noun meaning "substitute," the word was frequently applied as an adjective to modify terms like coffee (made from acorns) and flour (made from potatoes)—ersatz products necessitated by the privations of war. By the time World War II came around, bringing with it a resurgence of ersatz products, ersatz was wholly entrenched in the language. Today, ersatz describes any substitute or imitation, especially when it’s inferior to the original.

Examples of ersatz in a Sentence

an apartment complex designed as an ersatz Mediterranean villa like everything else the restaurant served, the whipped cream on the dessert was ersatz

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.

With its initial framework of Me Too allegations against Steve Carell’s ersatz Matt Lauer, the show purported to take on serious, of-the-moment issues but faltered in its execution, tending to fall back on the notion that the internationally famous have feelings too. —

Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 17 July 2024 For folks who’ve never heard of Casa Bonita, half the fun comes from discovering this low-quality, medium-concept, high-kitsch fantasyland that had so impressed Parker as a kid — an ersatz old-timey Mexican town conceived of equal parts imagination and bad taste. —

Peter Debruge, Variety, 3 Sep. 2024 On the Convention floor, a delegate asked me for a piece of paper from my notebook, and then folded the white page into an ersatz ear bandage, in solidarity with Trump. —

Antonia Hitchens, The New Yorker, 19 July 2024 And while the ersatz field and narrow dimensions drew complaints, the reviews from those who took part were mostly good. —

Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for ersatz