as in cheap
of low quality
a store plastered with "going out of business" signs and notorious for selling gimcrack merchandise
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in ornamental
a small object displayed for its attractiveness or interest
a remarkable amount of money is spent on gimcracks and other unnecessary items each year their apartment has enough gimcracks to fill up a novelty company's warehouse
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of gimcrack
A.a. Dowd, Chron, 5 Jan. 2023
The movie works hard to be a soulfully offbeat kiddie entertainment, an antidote to the gimcrack cynicism that has ruled too many cartoon-cutup-in-the-land-of-live-action Hollywood products.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Oct. 2022
The inevitable flood tide of gimcrack Biden souvenirs has yet to start in earnest, but there are some.
—New York Times, 6 Dec. 2020
So will the border continue to vanish in the face of nativist backlash and a trumpery, gimcrack wall?
—Felipe Fernández-Armesto, WSJ, 25 June 2018
Science fiction on the screen had been pinched, gimcrack, borderline laughable.
—Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, 10 May 2018
Noun
January is a multiplex clearance sale, littered with horror movies as gimcrack as the unsold toys wheeled out after the holidays.
—A.a. Dowd, Chron, 5 Jan. 2023
The movie works hard to be a soulfully offbeat kiddie entertainment, an antidote to the gimcrack cynicism that has ruled too many cartoon-cutup-in-the-land-of-live-action Hollywood products.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Oct. 2022
The inevitable flood tide of gimcrack Biden souvenirs has yet to start in earnest, but there are some.
—New York Times, 6 Dec. 2020
So will the border continue to vanish in the face of nativist backlash and a trumpery, gimcrack wall?
—Felipe Fernández-Armesto, WSJ, 25 June 2018
Science fiction on the screen had been pinched, gimcrack, borderline laughable.
—Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, 10 May 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gimcrack
Adjective
-
Researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have designed a new sodium-sulfur battery with higher power density and discharge capacity than before, enabling a cheaper, safer alternative to lithium-ion batteries.—
Ameya Paleja,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Jan. 2026
-
Fentanyl is cheap, compact, and lethal at microscopic doses, produced through decentralized networks designed to survive disruption.—
Morgan Chalfant,
semafor.com,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
This tree was widely planted as an ornamental for its fall color, as a nectar source for honeybees, and as a source of vegetable tallow used in cosmetics and candles.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
23 Dec. 2025
-
Update ornamentals This is THE time of year to add new plants to your garden — or plant a completely new garden.—
Nan Sterman,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
6 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
Historically, similar stories have followed asymmetric conflicts, where technologically inferior forces attribute defeat to mysterious or near-mythical weapons.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
15 Jan. 2026
-
The Heat had beat up on inferior opponents this season before Saturday’s ugly loss to the Pacers.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
11 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
After removing ornaments and dusting your tree, go ahead and dismantle it.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
7 Jan. 2026
-
The Four Freedoms Roosevelt named were not rhetorical ornaments offered as inspiration so much as a diagnosis.—
Philip Martin,
Washington Post,
7 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Often the boarding school is a site for terrible trauma.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 Jan. 2026
-
The family settled in the Chicago area during a terrible snowstorm, a shock to Noorani's parents, who came from the tropical Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.—
Amanda Lee Myers,
USA Today,
15 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas.—
NC Weather Bot,
Charlotte Observer,
10 Jan. 2026
-
In recent games, KU’s communication has been pretty poor on defense and that’s led to players taking (and too often missing) wide-open 3-pointers.—
Shreyas Laddha,
Kansas City Star,
10 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Four long years, during which the relationship between the flashy, flamboyant player and the sometimes-stodgy organization that turned him into a Charlotte legend seemed to spoil, turning almost rotten at times.—
Théoden Janes,
Charlotte Observer,
10 Jan. 2026
-
Traitors is about the gullible and the skeptical working together to sieve the fraudulent from the truthful, an amalgamated nightmare of village idiots locking themselves in the stocks and pelting each other with rotten fruit.—
Raven Smith,
Vogue,
9 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Now, but as the statistics and figures come in here in Minneapolis, there's double-digit drops in crime, coupled with a lot of bad people and bad things being taken off of your streets.—
Esme Murphy,
CBS News,
13 Jan. 2026
-
Under President Biden, the FTC and DOJ slowed large transactions, suggesting that all big businesses were bad businesses.—
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,
Time,
13 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Gimcrack.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gimcrack. Accessed 19 Jan. 2026.
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