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Definition of gimcracknext
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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of gimcrack
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 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, 16 Aug. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gimcrack
Adjective
  • Investors now see access to cheap and reliable power as a precondition for European companies to compete long-term.
    — Sophie Dembinski, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Telehealth sites hit their first jackpot in the 2010s, when Viagra and other drugs for erectile dysfunction came off patent, allowing for the sale of cheaper generics.
    — Anna Cooban, CNN Money, 15 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • Late-Modern architect focuses on a sleek design with minimal ornamentals.
    — Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 18 Sep. 2026
  • While this group of pathogens has an extensive range of hosts, it is often observed on woody ornamentals—viburnum or rhododendron, for example—and trees like dogwood or maple.
    — Emily Leahy, Hartford Courant, 7 Sep. 2026
Adjective
  • The idea is to sound like an inferior buck in the brush, one that is roaming around a mature deer’s space and getting on his nerves.
    — Michael Hanback, Outdoor Life, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Only 272 yards, at home, against a UCLA team that unquestionably has inferior talent?
    — Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 11 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • Scarabs, serpents, vultures, lunar ornaments, ancient gods like Horus and Anubis carved from gold and lapis lazuli—all strategically placed on various points along the body.
    — Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 16 Oct. 2026
  • With a tornado warning in effect Sunday afternoon, workers had decided to forgo blowing up the oversized lawn ornament.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 15 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • The second storyline takes place in 2026 and concerns the murder of none other than Hal Jordan, who returned to Rushville as a social pariah after the terrible events that transpired 10 years before.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 19 Oct. 2026
  • The Eagles are struggling, the Cowboys look terrible, and the Giants don’t have a quarterback.
    — OutKick, FOXNews.com, 19 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • Measles usually kills two or three people in every 1,000 cases, the WHO says, but the disease can be more deadly in poorer nations because of factors such as malnutrition.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 18 Oct. 2026
  • That receiver sends that poor defender into next week at the pylon.
    — Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • Sometimes your potatoes will be not be super clean with little sprouts and little rotten bits that need to be cut off.
    — Andy Baraghani, Bon Appetit Magazine, 6 Oct. 2026
  • He was filled with a sudden sense of hopelessness, a rotten sadness.
    — Rachel Heng, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • Bajaria may also have hit thin ice with Sarandos after the streamer won just 16 Primetime Emmy Awards this year — its worst showing since 2016 and down from 30 in 2025.
    — Matt Donnelly, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The size of the boat, the distance from the tow boat's berth and how bad the boat is stuck will all factor into the final invoice.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 15 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Gimcrack.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gimcrack. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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