gimmick

/ˈgɪmɪk/

/ˈgɪmɪk/

Other forms: gimmicks

A gimmick is a trick intended to attract attention. If you lure crowds to your bake sale by having popular football players handing out samples in front of your booth, that’s a gimmick.

A gimmick is often used by businesses to sell a product. As a sales gimmick, your local bank might offer free microwave ovens to people who open new savings accounts. A TV show may air a live episode as a gimmick to get people to watch the show. The word sometimes has a slightly negative connotation — there’s often some flashy trickery involved in a gimmick and it doesn’t always add value to what’s being sold.

Definitions of gimmick

1. noun

   any clever maneuver
   “it was a great sales gimmick”

   “a cheap promotions gimmick for greedy businessmen”

   synonyms: device, twist

   types:

   mnemonic

   a device (such as a rhyme or acronym) used to aid recall

   fast one, trick

   a cunning or deceitful action or device

   schtick, schtik, shtick, shtik

   (Yiddish) a devious trick; a bit of cheating

   type of:

   maneuver, manoeuvre, tactical maneuver, tactical manoeuvre

   a move made to gain a tactical end
2. noun

   a drawback or difficulty that is not readily evident
   synonyms: catch

   type of:

   drawback

   the quality of being a hindrance
3. noun

   something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known
   synonyms: doodad, doohickey, doojigger, gismo, gizmo, gubbins, hootenanny, thingamabob, thingamajig, thingmabob, thingmajig, thingumabob, thingumajig, thingummy, whatchamacallit, whatchamacallum, whatsis, widget

   type of:

   stuff

   miscellaneous unspecified objects