gimcrack
Americannoun
adjective
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
- gimcrackery noun
Etymology
Origin of gimcrack
1325–75 for earlier sense; Middle English gib ( e ) crake; compare Middle English gibben to waver (< Old French giber to shake)
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.
Imagine the damage such a salesman might do, stirring up dissatisfaction and unhappiness just to sell us a gimcrack agenda that we’d wish we had never bought.
From Washington Post • Jul. 30, 2021
To call this tourist fare is merely to say that its appeal is generic and, yes, a bit gimcrack.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 18, 2018
When it comes to ludicrous, gimcrack wish-fulfillment, each of us is entitled to our own favorite flavor.
From Slate • Jun. 23, 2016
Now plastic everywhere is thought such gimcrack stuff, ripe for landfill, and this attitude is passed off as naïve.
From New York Times • Apr. 21, 2016
So I’ll just place you on one of these gimcrack gilt chairs, and I’ll ask you to keep this one next, for me, until I make a raid on the table.
From Patty's Social Season by Wells, Carolyn
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.
