knickknack
Americannoun
-
knickknacks
plural
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.
See Examples For:
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
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
These little knickknack injuries, that’s how it started with me.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 16, 2021
Danner’s Ronnie is a sweet widower who works in a knickknack store and has been a hoarder since her infant daughter died years before.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2019
At Miss Lizzy’s I dusted every knickknack in that big house.
From "Girls Like Us" by Gail Giles
Thoughtful knickknacks are something that people of any social status can appreciate, Bensimon added.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Meanwhile, Missi has been buying replicas of lost toys on eBay and knickknacks to occupy the empty spaces.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
They found a pair of her father’s vintage spectacles and fragments of his sculptures, assembled from knickknacks and everyday objects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2025
A retired pharmacist, Kelley filled her spotlessly clean home with family photos and knickknacks that gave the house a cozy, welcoming feel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2025
Not the duffel bag with his knickknacks and Yankees hat in it.
From "When I Was the Greatest" by Jason Reynolds
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.
