Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Designed and made to sell without concern for quality; cheap.
- n. A cheap item.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Something of little value, adapted to attract popular attention and thus secure a quick sale; anything externally attractive, made merely to sell.
- Made or got up to gain money; put forth merely to sell: as, a catchpenny pamphlet.
Wiktionary
- n. A cheap item designed to attract purchasers of other goods
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Made or contrived for getting small sums of money from the ignorant or unwary.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. designed to sell quickly without concern for quality
Examples
“Well, I went on perusing the work, and found almost at once that it was what is called a catchpenny, and depended altogether, for its success, upon the fame and reputation of its predecessor of nearly the same name.”
The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain The Works of William Carleton, Volume One
“Rose believed Crossfire was "much too important a picture to be advertised like a catchpenny potboiler," noting that on "18,000 screens it can do more good than a whole passel of tolerance societies with fancy names on the stationery.”
Caught in the Crossfire: Adrian Scott and the Politics of Americanism in 1940s Hollywood
“In everything one finds this frank acceptance of twin values which are not expected to have anything in common: on the one hand a quite unclouded, quite unhypocritical assumption of transcendent theory “high ideals”; on the other a simultaneous acceptance of catchpenny realities.”
“Start ending the environmental catchpenny of blended fuel mandates that†™ s done squat to clean our air, but done tons to sully our wallets.”
“The distinction he made in his fictions — between novels and "entertainments" — was one that he first evolved to excuse himself for writing an openly catchpenny movie script in the form of Orient Express.”
“Reviews: ‘Caine is a talented enough and likeable enough performer to create the illusion of a mature irony at work on catchpenny material’ - The Voice”
“Don't let your lip curl at the catchpenny title -- the book contains much that would be of value to any writer.”
“As I have remarked before, you should not be put off by the catchpenny title.”
“You know already by the title that it is no more than a catchpenny.”
“This was no catchpenny coquetry; it was a genuine dread of undue familiarity.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘catchpenny’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Killjoy et al
Namely, compounds consisting of a verb with a direct object immediately after it, without inflection
killjoy, lickspigot, quakebuttock, throttlebottom, scattergood, scapegrace, swillbowl, tosspot, breakfast, cutthroat, pickpocket, dreadnought and 84 more...
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Valuseless
Of low worth or little importance.
Unwanted matter by drusky is a nice, related list.trivial, cheap, inutile, ineffectual, dross, floccinaucinihili..., gimcrack, frippery, invalidated, drivel, otiose, tripe and 91 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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inkhorn's Words
inkhorn, aplomb, apotheosis, asinine, avatar, bombastic, boorish, bromide, bucolic, cagey, canvass, digress and 991 more...
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This week's words
hand-handled, crouch, hootchy-kootchy, gloriole, glory hole, metempsychosis, doctrinaire, transmigration, celestial, treetop, luxuriant, physic and 102 more...
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Words I'd Like to Use Someday
thundersnow, phantasmagoria, mercurial, chimerical, taciturn, paraclete, lapis lazuli, flay, guttersnipe, wonky, misanthrope, kestrel and 583 more...
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Rognons of Random Palavery
Another of my random palavery lists for terms and phrases that don't fit into any of my other lists.
priorship, exigeant, refectory, reestablish, capper, reesed, quar, reprune, orificial, reaming-iron, terminist, terminism and 3097 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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amberella's Words
facetious, behoove, akrasia, schadenfreude, halcyon, vapid, wanderlust, bluestocking, drazel, succinct, literati, geason and 116 more...
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flannagan's Words
netop, kenspeckle, loden, framboise, providence, milquetoast, schism, cadence, thrush, asphodel, clandestine, aesthete and 196 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, C
cryptoxanthin, convent, calcar, chuckle, campanile, covet, complexion, campestral, chirography, counterscarp, caliginous, catabolism and 722 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for catchpenny.
mollusque His book was a novel; it had the catchpenny cover, and while the romance of life stood neglected at his side he lost himself in that of the circulating library.
--Henry James, 1893, "The Middle Years", Scribner's Magazine 13: 610 Oct 28, 2009