Meaning & use
shtick
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Meaning
nouncountable or uncountableinformal
A well-known routine, habit or gimmick that a person, especially a performer, uses again and again.
Grammar: Often singular and used with his or her: his usual shtick.
Patterns
- do the shtick
- someone's shtick
The comedian's shtick is playing a grumpy old man.
Her shtick of arriving in costume became famous at the office.
After years of the same shtick, the audience grew bored.
Word forms
| plural | shticks |
|---|
Common combinations
- his usual shtick
- He did his usual shtick, complaining about the coffee.
- a comic shtick
- The host has a comic shtick that never changes.
- tired shtick
- The act relied on tired shtick.
- drop the shtick
- Please drop the shtick and answer honestly.
- the whole shtick
- She did the whole shtick, hat and accent included.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gimmick
- Gimmick is a trick used to attract attention and is usually negative, while shtick can be affectionate.
- routine
- Routine is neutral and can mean any repeated act, whereas shtick has a hint of showy performance.
- act
- Act can also mean pretending, but shtick specifically means a performance habit people recognize.
- schtick
- Schtick is simply another spelling of the same word.
Word family
- schtick noun
- a variant spelling
- shticky adjective
- relying on a repeated gimmick
- Yiddish proper noun
- the language the word comes from
Commonly confused: shtick or stick?
shtick vs stick
Stick is a piece of wood; shtick is a performer's routine, and the two are pronounced differently at the start.
Practice
The comedian's _____ is pretending to be an angry waiter, and he does it in every show.
Choose one answer.
Shtick means a signature routine that a performer repeats. Stick and stitch are physical objects and do not mean a routine.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “shtick”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.