zelighttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zelig_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_useZelig, n.
First published 2004

Zelignoun

  1. 1984–
    Allusively: a person who is able to change his or her appearance, behaviour, attitudes, etc., so as to seem comfortable in or well-suited to any situation or set of circumstances.
    1. [1984
      John Doe... Historically, this Leonard Zelig of the law materialized chiefly when necessary to implement a fiction or when a party's true name was not known.
      Nat. Law Journal (Nexis) 5 March]
    2. 1984
      It is not that everyone is a Zelig—a chameleon—but that everyone has a complex personality and certain parts respond to certain places.
      New York Times Magazine 15 April 78/2
    3. 1985
      They really didn't notice they had nominated a political Zelig who didn't once mention tax reform.
      M. Royko in Chicago Tribune 12 April 3
    4. 1998
      The kaleidoscope of images that made Diana the world's darling—glamourpuss, savior, victim, mother, a Zelig for our times.
      Nation (New York) 7 September 30/2
    5. 2006
      He'd gig relentlessly, meandering like a Zelig through music: writing commercial jingles, producing a pair of albums.
      Oxford Amer. Summer 82/2

Zelig, n. was first published in December 2004.

Zelig, n. was last modified in June 2024.