cheesy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: chēʹzē
ipa: /ˈt͡ʃiːzi/
rhymes: -iːzi
homophone: cheezie
Forms: form: cheesier
form: cheesiest
form: cheesey
Etymology: From Middle English chesy, equivalent to cheese + -y. Doublet of caseic.
Compare German käsig (“cheesy”).
Senses: examples: text: This sandwich is full of cheesy goodness.
glosses: Of or relating to cheese.
examples: text: a cheesy flavor; cheesy nachos
text: I like pizzas with a cheesy crust.
text: He pushed open the door, and a hideous cheesy smell of sour beer hit him in the face.
ref: 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part One, Chapter 8:
text: He saw skin of every shade, from obsidian black through all the stages of brown and yellow to cheesy white, he even saw yellow hair and azure-colored eyes, faces and garments of every cut—he saw humanity.
ref: 2005, Thomas Mann, “Joseph in Egypt”, in John E. Woods, transl., Joseph and His Brothers, New York: Everyman's Library, Part 3, p. 633:
text: That was the first calzone I made after my Lucali meal, and the recipe is a good template for a calzone of the cheesiest kind.
ref: 2012 April 13, Melissa Clark, “See You Later, Pizza, This Dough Is for Calzones”, in The New York Times:
text: If you’ve ever eaten Buffalo chicken wings and thought, “These are so good, I just wish they were meltier and cheesier so I could scoop them up with tortilla chips,” here’s Ali’s Buffalo chicken dip.
ref: 2024 January 27, The New York Times Cooking, “Chips as Chicken and Wings as Dip”, in The New York Times:
glosses: Resembling or containing cheese.
examples: text: a cheesy song; a cheesy movie
text: The cheesy antics had everyone giggling.
text: Another night, when the local entertainers had gone home, Gould went into the empty lounge to play piano with a cheesy string of colored lights overhead and bongo drums at his side.
ref: 2010, Michael Clarkson, chapter 4, in The Secret Life of Glenn Gould: A Genius in Love, Toronto: ECW Press, page 54:
glosses: Overdramatic, excessively emotional or clichéd, trite, contrived.
examples: text: He would be apprenticed to some cheesy shop or become a clerk in an office and his entire life he would be one of the ordinary poor people, whom he despised and wanted to surpass.
ref: 1968, Hermann Hesse, chapter 1, in Michael Roloff, Bantam Books, transl., Beneath the Wheel, published 1970, page 30:
text: I tagged along behind this culturally accomplished beast intelligence in my scuffed handmedown shoes, unpressed illfitting post adolescent suit, dirt ringed shirt and cheesy tie, hair askew and book underarm, perspiring perhaps.
ref: 1977, Allen Ginsberg, “June 17, 1952”, in Gordon Ball, editor, Journals: Early Fifties, Early Sixties, New York: Grove Press, page 19:
text: I noticed […] that when a very cheesy synthesized violin sound plays in counterpoint with a real violin, it can quite convincingly seem as if two violins are playing.
ref: 2009, Roger T. Dean, The Oxford Handbook of Computer Music:
glosses: Cheap, of poor quality.
examples: text: Needless to say, toward the end of Martin's first term, the relationship he once enjoyed with President Waverly had evolved into a slapdash charade of cheap promises and cheesy smiles.
ref: 2008, Jeff Spanke, Second Hand Out, page 86:
text: There is something about 5- and 6-year-olds that makes them ever-ready to pose with the big, cheesy grin with no provocation.
ref: 2012, Ginny Felch, Photographing Children Photo Workshop:
glosses: Exaggerated and likely to be forced or insincere. (of a smile or grin)
Synonyms: cheeseball
corny
tacky
Derived terms: cheesily
cheesiness
cheesy chips
cheesylicious
cheesymite
cheesy puff
uncheesy
Related terms: cream-cheesy
mac and cheesy