gimmick

[gim-ik]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR gimmick ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, especially one designed to attract attention or increase appeal.

a concealed, usually devious aspect or feature of something, as a plan or deal: An offer that good must have a gimmick in it somewhere.

a hidden mechanical device by which a magician works a trick or a gambler controls a game of chance.

Electronics Informal. a capacitor formed by intertwining two insulated wires.

verb (used with object)

to equip or embellish with unnecessary features, especially in order to increase salability, acceptance, etc. (often followed by up): to gimmick up a sports car with chrome and racing stripes.

verb (used without object)

to resort to gimmickry, especially habitually.

Origin of gimmick

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30; origin uncertain

Related formsgim·mick·er, noungim·mick·y, adjectiveun·gim·mick·y, adjective

Synonyms for gimmick

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR gimmick ON THESAURUS.COM

1. stunt, plan, ruse, ploy; angle.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for gimmick

maneuver, stratagem, gadget, ploy, ruse, trick, fun, instrument, artifice, device, stunt, method, gizmo, dodge, widget, apparatus, means, imposture, shift, fixture

Examples from the Web for gimmick

Contemporary Examples of gimmick

Critics praised his crooning, even if they regarded it little more than a gimmick.
Future Makes Us Rethink Everything We Thought We Knew About Rap Artists
Luke Hopping
December 15, 2014
The old showbiz saying is “you gotta have a gimmick,” and Minaj has wisely gotten a few.
Nicki Minaj’s Ass-tastic ‘Anaconda’ Video and the Curse of the Butt Career
Kevin Fallon
August 21, 2014
Daylyt downplayed the gimmick, later claiming on Twitter that it was his way of saying he was finished with battle rap.
America’s Poets: Battle Rap Gets Real
Rich Goldstein
July 15, 2014
“The entire thing was supposed to be a gimmick ... just a small gimmick in the corner of the festival,” he says.
Does Your Drone Deliver?
Abby Haglage
August 20, 2013
But I had to come up with a way to make the style match the content (rather than it merely being a gimmick).
Benjamin Percy: How I Write
Noah Charney
June 5, 2013

Historical Examples of gimmick

If you can't find his gimmick in half a day, I'll come out and show it to you.
The Great Gray Plague
Raymond F. Jones
We have to remember that the gimmick in this whole business is a golden skull.
The Golden Skull
John Blaine
The "gimmick," as these American subjects put it, is "hot" and the turnover is fantastic.
High Man
Jay Clarke
And you think me incapable of keeping your secret, ah, gimmick, I believe is the idiomatic term you used.
Mercenary
Dallas McCord Reynolds
That gimmick's pretty much of a spilled secret now, but on p. 270 a swap for you and Lyad it was worth it.
Legacy
James H Schmitz

British Dictionary definitions for gimmick

gimmick

noun

something designed to attract extra attention, interest, or publicity

any clever device, gadget, or stratagem, esp one used to deceive

mainly US a device or trick of legerdemain that enables a magician to deceive the audience

Derived Formsgimmickry, noungimmicky, adjective

Word Origin for gimmick

C20: originally US slang, of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gimmick

1926 (in Maine & Grant's "Wise-Crack Dictionary," which defines it as "a device used for making a fair game crooked"), American English, perhaps an alteration of gimcrack, or an anagram of magic.