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, trick, jig, juggle, knack, play, ploy, scheme, shenanigan, sleight, stratagem, wileRelated 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, gadget, gizmo (also gismo), jigger, widgetRelated 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, pitfall, gotcha, hitch, joker, land mine, snagRelated Words snare, trap, trip wire, web; hazard, peril, risk; bomb, bombshell, kicker, surprise (also surprize); bait, decoy, lure