schmo

variants or schmoe
slang

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of schmo Doc Odd goes against protocol, though, and saves this schmo’s life a second time in one night. Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 2 Apr. 2025 Listen to this article The Bo Show won’t go if Courtland’s a schmo. Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 31 Mar. 2025 But even though Mickey 17 is set in outer space about 30 years from now, its hero isn’t that different from those found throughout Bong’s filmography: a working-class schmo. David Sims, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2025 Some poor schmo rotated 720 degrees sideways while losing both his skis and face planting onto the ice. Dalton Ross, EW.com, 26 Sep. 2024 By Stephanie Zacharek September 2, 2024 7:49 AM EDT What separates a genius from the rest of us schmoes? Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 2 Sep. 2024 This is a big hokey underdog story, but it’s told with a grit and realism that matches the era; Rocky’s just a good-hearted schmo from the neighborhood who doesn’t have the stomach to break thumbs for the mob but isn’t sure what else the world has for him either. Will Leitch, Vulture, 27 Apr. 2024 The broad contours of his arc, from an ordinary schmo to a beloved TV star hobnobbing with celebrities and signing his own development deal, are as classic as Hollywood fairy tales get. Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Dec. 2023 When given a guitar by Bob Marley’s family, DJ Khaled acted a total schmo, displaying zero respect for fine hardwoods , and seemed to take himself seriously while doing it. Jonathan Rowe, SPIN, 7 Dec. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for schmo
Noun
  • To the show’s credit, Rick isn’t a simple bummer or jackass.
    Ben Travers, IndieWire, 11 Feb. 2025
  • Shura said that Novikov treated him with disgust, carrying himself like a kham—a jackass.
    Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • The groper was a lowlife—a deranged doctor, bent on harvesting astronaut semen for pernicious procreative ends.
    Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2025
  • That’s where detective Kang Dong-woo, played by Jo Woo-jin, searches for his teen daughter and ultimately enlists help from the lowlife fixer Yoon Gil-ho, played by Ji Chang-wook.
    Joan MacDonald, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • As boss, Patrick Kramer eschews the oily portrayal of some to make his Franklin Hart a straight-up dolt.
    Matthew J. Palm, Orlando Sentinel, 7 Mar. 2025
  • As boss, Patrick Kramer eschews the oily portrayal of some to make his Franklin Hart a straight-up dolt.
    Matthew J. Palm, Orlando Sentinel, 7 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Since then, he’s been a haunted wretch of a character: stoned, sullen, stuck with recurring visions of shooting his wife and himself.
    Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2025
  • The unfortunate wretch makes an exciting escape, killing her captor in the process.
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 18 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Jane Austen wrote takedowns of this kind of ninny two centuries ago — how fun to see Pike update her twit to the post-Y2K era.
    Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2024
  • Kopas, who wisely eschews hamming, makes Frank a spry, eloquent presence, although more dourness in the play’s initial scenes might help his character stand out from the salon’s cheerful ninnies.
    Celia Wren, Washington Post, 4 May 2023
Noun
  • This painting becomes the center of a scheme to weaken Cosimo’s reputation, and Benvenuto Cellini, sculptor, goldsmith and all-around scoundrel, is hired to steal it — a choice that leads to some of the most hilarious high jinks in the book.
    Chelsea Leu, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2025
  • Yet too many Democrats are reacting as though Musk himself is the scoundrel.
    Stephen Moore, Boston Herald, 3 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • That’s the pumping-iron term for somebody who’s kind of a nitwit.
    Benjamin Naddaff-Hafrey, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2024
  • The plot involves risqué photos of someone in the royal family being used as collateral, and poor Terry and his nitwit crew were tricked into trying to steal these from the bank instead of money.
    Mike Ryan, Vulture, 31 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • There is no silver lining to looking like a doofus.
    Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 8 Mar. 2025
  • The Carl Erskine problem Unfortunately, the doofus who put together the ballot (editor’s note: the newsletter author put together the ballot) forgot to include Carl Erskine in the actual ballot.
    Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Schmo.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/schmo. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.

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