Definition of GIMCRACK

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Noun

Gimcrack is only one of many peculiar-sounding words that have pervaded our language to refer to something ornamental and of little value. Others include bauble, trinket, knickknack, gewgaw, kickshaw and tchotchke. Bauble appears to be the oldest among the group, with usage dating back to the 14th century. Gewgaw and kickshaw first appeared in the 16th century, whereas gimcrack and knickknack established themselves in the 17th century. Tchotchke, borrowed from the Yiddish, is by far the most recent addition to our language, only first appearing as an English word in the 1970s.

Examples of gimcrack in a Sentence

Noun

a remarkable amount of money is spent on gimcracks and other unnecessary items each year that woman has enough gimcracks to fill up a novelty company's mail-order catalog

Adjective

a store plastered with “going out of business” signs and notorious for selling gimcrack merchandise

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

So will the border continue to vanish in the face of nativist backlash and a trumpery, gimcrack wall? — Felipe Fernández-armesto, WSJ, "‘Vanishing Frontiers’ Review: The Ties That Bind," 25 June 2018 Science fiction on the screen had been pinched, gimcrack, borderline laughable. — Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, "‘2001’ is a space odyssey, but 2018 is a Kubrick moment," 10 May 2018 The designer Vicki Mortimer has created a set that feels like a gimcrack warehouse, full of old ladders and lights and puppet-stage-like window frames. — Ben Brantley, New York Times, "with the headline: Summertime, and the Revivals are Breezy.," 16 Aug. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gimcrack.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.