What does "zelig-like" mean?

Having an extremely flexible, inconsistent or polymorphic character.

What is a synonym for "zelig-like"?

Common synonyms include: zeligesque.

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Adjective

1
Having an extremely flexible, inconsistent or polymorphic character.
"Allen's one-liner reveals that he thinks there is something Zelig-like in himself, increasing the intrigue that this human chameleon offers."
2
Synonym of Zeligesque.
"My grandfather turns up, Zelig-like, somewhere in the background of so many historic photographs and documentary film clips that sometimes I would ask myself whether the obscure but unavoidable ubiquity of his curriculum vitae in the history of the last century did not suggest a notewothy, albeit questionable, capacity to empathize and adapt—a pathological malleability."

"Allen's one-liner reveals that he thinks there is something Zelig-like in himself, increasing the intrigue that this human chameleon offers."

From Zelig + -like, after the character Leonard Zelig from the film Zelig (1983).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.