schmaltzy

• schmalzy, shmaltzy

From schmaltz +‎ -y.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃmɒltsi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

schmaltzy (comparative schmaltzier, superlative schmaltziest)

1. Overly sentimental, emotional, maudlin or bathetic.
   • 2018 June 26, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, “Jonathan Franzen Is Fine With All of It”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 7 December 2020:

     During a series of interviews, Franzen expressed ambivalence about Oprah’s endorsement— […] that he had found a few of her choices in the past “schmaltzy” and “one-dimensional.”

   • 2023 January 20, Dan Bilefsky, quoting Gérard Araud, “American Expatriates in Paris Wish Emily Cooper Would Go Home”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 31 March 2023:

     “In France, it has the reputation of being a typically American mixture of clichés and of schmaltz,” he wrote in an email. “Clichés about us don’t interest us, and the French are not very schmaltzy.”

   • 2025 November 28, Hollie Richardson, “Oh yes he is! Kiefer Sutherland dives into the world of panto”, in The Guardian‎^[3], →ISSN, archived from the original on 2 December 2025:

     As well as singing a lively Christmas number for the first time in a film (a good use of his country music success), Sutherland shares a schmaltzy waltz with Wilson: “It was a bit foreign for both of us but I think we had fun.”

• schmaltzily
• schmaltziness