knickknack
Americannoun
Usage
What is a knickknack? A knickknack is a small decorative object, such as a little statue of a dog or a bobblehead. A knickknack is any keepsake, trinket, ornament, figure, or display piece that you own just to display it. Knickknacks can include small statues or figures, novelty candles or cups, and small toys. They can also include plastic figures based on pop culture, fidget devices such as cubes and spinners, stress balls, paperweights, and display boxes. Because knickknacks don’t take up much space, you generally don’t notice them much until you have so many that they clutter your space. Knickknacks are similar to gimcracks, which are showy, useless items, and the terms are often used interchangeably. The term bric-a-brac, another similar term, refers to small items that are collected for sentimental value, as a hobby, or for decorative purposes. Example: Every time I go to a garage sale, I come home with more knickknacks that clutter my shelves.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of knickknack
1610–20; gradational compound based on knack in obsolete sense “toy”
Explanation
You might love your tiny ceramic cat wearing a sombrero, but it’s just a knickknack, a small collectible ornament. A knickknack isn’t valuable — except sentimentally. Little statues, candles in quirky shapes, or prizes found inside cereal boxes, are all knickknacks. Anything that decorates or clutters the shelves of someone's home, especially if it's basically worthless, is a knickknack. The word knickknack was originally a 16th century version of "dirty trick," from knack, and its now-obsolete meaning "deception or trick." Don’t freak out if it’s spelled knick-knack because that’s ok too.
Vocabulary lists containing knickknack
List 5
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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.
Ken, who declined to give his last name, has worked as a sales associate at Bunkado, a knickknack shop in Little Tokyo, for several years.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2025
Alithea, a literary scholar on a work trip in Istanbul, is the latest fated candidate to summon the djinn — purchasing the blue and white glass bottle that contains him from a knickknack shop.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 23, 2022
Now what was the crown jewel of professional sports franchises in the area may as well be a knickknack.
From Washington Post • Jun. 17, 2022
A knickknack shelf by the entrance holds some waving lucky cats, a model motorcycle, a small collection of Uncle Lou baseball caps and what must be a month’s supply of Vita tea in individual cartons.
From New York Times • Mar. 29, 2022
At Miss Lizzy’s I dusted every knickknack in that big house.
From "Girls Like Us" by Gail Giles
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.
