Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A device employed to cheat, deceive, or trick, especially a mechanism for the secret and dishonest control of gambling apparatus.
- n. An innovative or unusual mechanical contrivance; a gadget.
- n. An innovative stratagem or scheme employed especially to promote a project: an advertising gimmick.
- n. A significant feature that is obscured, misrepresented, or not readily evident; a catch.
- n. A small object whose name does not come readily to mind.
- v. To add gimmicks to; clutter with gadgets or attention-getting details. Often used with up.
- v. To change or affect by means of a gimmick.
Wiktionary
- n. A trick or device used to reach some end.
- n. A clever ploy or strategy.
- v. To rig or set up with a trick or device.
WordNet 3.0
- n. something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known
- n. any clever maneuver
- n. a drawback or difficulty that is not readily evident
Etymologies
- Origin unknown.
Examples
“But while this gimmick is an interesting starting point, von Trier and Scorsese would have to find a way to twist the story that makes it worth telling again.”
“White House chief of staff William Daley told NBC the debt ceiling "must be extended in a way that gives certainty to economy through '13 and not some short term gimmick where we're right back in this fix in six or eight months.”
“While he challenges Democrat Coakley to take the pledge, which she calls a gimmick, Coakley toured the Lynn Community Health Center, where officials cite her winning lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies.”
“So my assertion that the whole "get in shape with Wii" angle was entirely a gimmick is based entirely in ignorance -- at least, as far a the game aspect is concerned.”
“I say “loosely based” because the main gimmick of the comic — that Chance was a genius impersonator, so he could take the place of the targets he was protecting without anyone knowing (thus the title) — has been dropped.”
“People would be pissed if the gimmick is ruined but it's not like the movie would stop.”
The Latest Gimmick: Last Call, an Interactive Horror Movie, Will Phone You During the Film | /Film
“Vegas has been a touchstone for a while of squalid stupid behavior, and the “what happens in Vegas” catch-phrase/marketing gimmick is definitely one of those things that has national saturation.”
“Like Orci said, a good story, not a slick gimmick, is the key to success.”
“I will say, the ghost story is one of the most difficult supernatural tales to pull off effectively, especially in film, and one does not manage that trick by regurgitating every tiresome gimmick from the last decade of American and Japanese cinema (most of which never worked to begin with).”
“The 'Man from Mars' gimmick is easy enough to understand, Heinlein's satire is equally amusing to Muggles and Slans, and who (aside from me, that is) does not like a book mocking monotheism and monogamy?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gimmick’.
-
Origin unknown
bamboozle, ballyhoo, banter, bludgeon, chad, cocktail, culvert, curmugeon, dildo, dude, dweeb, dyke and 51 more...
-
New Words
No definite conception of these words.
reggaeton, fugacious, astray, artillery, quietism, heteronomy, plebeian, remit, hypostasize, discountenance, rictus, wail and 39 more...
-
common UA vocab. in US
Interesting, there is a traditional vocabulary of an Ukrainian, that differs from vocabulary of average American. It would be nice to explore it.
jackdaw, incongruous, cassock, vivid, magpie, humdrum, amongst, wonder, wandering, wheedling, wheedle, osseous and 368 more...
-
Wrestling
Words and terminology used in pro-wrestling.
kayfabe, jobber, over, push, angle, spot, gorilla position, turnbuckle, rope, squared circle, mat, hold and 8 more...
-
The Enterprise
enterprise, gameplan, goal, gimmick, intendment of int..., lay of the land, machination, notions, object, objectives, pitch, picture and 54 more...
-
imm
immunogen, immobile, immiscible, shimmy, slimming, glimmer, immigrate, immutability, swimmingly, brimming, primming, skimming and 25 more...
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.