gadget
Americannoun
noun
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a small mechanical device or appliance
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any object that is interesting for its ingenuity or novelty rather than for its practical use
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of gadget
1850–55; origin uncertain; compare French gâchette the catch of a lock, sear of a gunlock
Explanation
A gadget is a tool or device, especially one that works remarkably well for a specific task. Your dad's favorite kitchen gadget might be his special knife that cuts vegetables into spirals. The remote control your sister rigs up to the Christmas tree is a gadget, and your camping tool that folds out into various knives, corkscrews, and scissors is another kind of gadget. The original spelling was gadjet, and it's thought to have originated in the 1850's as sailors' slang, meaning any mechanism or ship part that either lacked a name or whose name had been forgotten. It may be rooted in the French gâchette, "piece of a mechanism."
Vocabulary lists containing gadget
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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The Ingenious Lexicon of Invention
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The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But what kind of gadget people will use isn't too important, he added, because "the agent isn't tied to the device".
From Barron's • Jun. 1, 2026
Created before smartphones emerged as the dominant personal technology, the website might also reflect Buffett’s own reluctance to embrace the gadget economy.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
Ndedi, from Cameroon, uses her acrobatic skills for the most elaborate escapes, Cryptic is the hacker from Kenya and Congolese Fred is the getaway driver and gadget maker.
From BBC • Feb. 9, 2026
The gadget relies on iridology, a technique by which iris colors and markings are believed to reveal information about a person's health, but which is generally considered scientifically unreliable.
From Barron's • Jan. 12, 2026
“Around Los Alamos after that,” explained Serber, “we called the bomb we were building ‘the gadget.’
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
