MacGuffin

or Mc·Guf·fin

[ muh-guhf-in ]

noun

a plot device in a work of fiction, often a physical object, that drives the plot forward without factoring into the story’s resolution:The statue in The Maltese Falcon is the most well-known example of a MacGuffin in cinema.

Origin of MacGuffin

¹

First recorded in 1935–40; probably from the surname MacGuffin and popularized by Alfred Hitchcock

Words Nearby MacGuffin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use MacGuffin in a sentence

The plot of Red Notice, such as it is, involves a deeply earnest search for “Cleopatra’s third egg,” a deeply ridiculous jeweled MacGuffin.
Red Notice is a huge hit for Netflix. But what does that actually mean? | Aja Romano | November 22, 2021 | Vox

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