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noun

ersatz

an artificial or inferior substitute or imitation

In a sentence

Six example sentences with ersatz, each labelled with its topic.

  • Wartime cooks brewed an ersatz from roasted acorns and chicory, and nobody pretended it tasted anything like coffee.

    Cooking

  • Rationing pushed families toward an ersatz for nearly everything, from soap to the rubber in their shoe soles.

    History

  • The sampled strings are an ersatz, and any listener who has sat near a real orchestra hears it immediately.

    Music

  • Painted plaster served as an ersatz for marble in the chapel, and only a close look at the veins gives it away.

    Art

  • The Victorian builders used cast concrete as an ersatz for carved stone, and the facade has weathered worse for it.

    Architecture

  • The resort's canal is an ersatz of Venice, complete with gondolas, and visitors who know the real city sigh at it.

    Travel

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Found in these word lists

Found in 3 published word listsRecognized

Each source is a published word list that contains ersatz. No exam board publishes an official GRE, GMAT or SAT list; GMAT words come from GRE lists and the Academic Word List.