gimmick

gimmick

noun

Definition of GIMMICK

1

a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end <that free magazine subscription they offer is just a sales gimmick to get you to buy their product>

Synonyms artifice, device, dodge, fetch, flimflam, gambit, gimmick, jig, juggle, knack, play, ploy, scheme, shenanigan, sleight, stratagem, wile

Related Words bluff, end run, feint; cheating, chicanery, cozenage, craft, crookery, cunning, deception, dupery, duplicity, fakery, jugglery, legerdemain, skulduggery (or skullduggery), subterfuge, swindling, trickery; fraud, gaff, hoax, sham, swindle; blind, front, smoke screen

2

an interesting and often novel device with a practical use <a laptop equipped with a carrying handle and other neat gimmicks>

Synonyms appliance, contraption, contrivance, gimmick, gizmo (also gismo), jigger, widget

Related Words implement, instrument, tool, utensil; ingenuity, innovation, invention; accessory (also accessary), adjunct; mechanism, trick; dingus, doodad, doohickey, hickey, hootenanny [chiefly dialect], thingamabob, thingamajig (or thingumajig), thingummy

3

a danger or difficulty that is hidden or not easily recognized <the deal sounds too good to be true, so make sure there aren't any gimmicks>

Synonyms booby trap, catch, catch-22, gimmick, gotcha, hitch, joker, land mine, snag

Related Words snare, trap, trip wire, web; hazard, peril, risk; bomb, bombshell, kicker, surprise (also surprize); bait, decoy, lure