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A.Word.A.Day--kitsch

kitsch (kich)

noun:

1. Art or artwork characterized by sentimental, often pretentious bad taste. The aesthetic or mentality in which such art is conceived or appreciated.
2. Culture or civilization in a degraded state of sentimentality and vulgarity.

adjective:
Relating to or characterized by kitsch.

[German, probably of dialectal origin.]

"Survivors were naturally eager to forget the grimness, and she suggests that they were helped in this by kitsch war poetry and by heroic military films."
Hearing silence; The Economist (London, UK); Oct 28, 2000.

This week's theme: Words from the German language

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