gimcrack

/ˈd͡ʒɪmkɹæk/

gimcrack adjective: showy but of poor quality; worthless.

Adjective

gimcrack (not comparable)

Showy but of poor quality; worthless.
- For years past this branch of art-manufacture had been entrusted to those whose taste, if it may be called taste at all, can be no more referred to correct principles of design than the gimcrack decorations of a wedding-cake could be tested by any standard of sculpturesque beauty.1869, Charles L[ocke] Eastlake, “The Entrance Hall”, in Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery and Other Details, 2nd edition, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 48
- It was cocking her up with gimcrack notions about ladies till she'd be ashamed to look at her own hands after she had done a day's work with them.1876 May – 1877 July, Anthony Trollope, “‘Wonderful Bird!’”, in The American Senator […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1877, →OCLC, page 282

gimcrack (plural gimcracks)

Something showy but worthless; a bauble or gimmick.
- [H]er miſlike of my Dreſs confirms me, this muſt be ſome levvd London Gimcrack, ſome Play-houſe haunting Couſin; […][1703], Tho[mas] d’Urfey, The Old Mode & the New, or, Country Miss with Her Furbeloe. A Comedy. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott, and sold by Samuel Clark, […], Francis Faucet […], and Lucas Stowkey...
- […] Lord Orville, […] changed the ſubject to Cox's Muſeum, and aſked vvhat he thought of it? "Think!—" ſaid he, "vvhy I think as hovv it i'n't vvorth thinking about. I like no ſuch jem cracks. It is only fit, in my mind, for monkeys,—though, for aught I knovv, they too might turn up their noſes at...1778, [Frances Burney], “Letter XXIII. Evelina in Continuation.”, in Evelina, or, A Young Lady’s Entrance into the World, volume I, London: […] T[homas] Lowndes, […], →OCLC, page 191

gimcrack (third-person singular simple present gimcracks, present participle gimcracking, simple past and past participle gimcracked)

(transitive) To put together quickly and without much care; to bodge.
- Actually the book is a series of related images (some fresh and sharp) and fragmentary sketches (a few vividly effective), gimcracked together with a semblance of plot and allegory,1950, Herbert David Croly, The New Republic - Volume 122, page 20
- That page, written fifteen years before by Land Recorder Frederic Prigg, was an imprecise description of land without benefit of any survey, and was more eyeball than ciphers, with measures gimcracked together by a claimant and a recorder who barely understood each other.2005, Ronald B. Lansing, Nimrod: Courts, Claims, and Killing on the Oregon Frontier, page 244
(transitive) To embellish with gimcracks.
- Furthermore many of the peripheral characters and myths that the Disney interests have appropriated over the years have been gimcracked to death, so that they have none of their original integrity .1976, James William Johnson, Prose in Practice: A Rhetorical Reader, page 100
- It was a small café, gimcracked with atmosphere, the usual red-checkered tablecloths, and candles dribbling down the sides of old wine bottles.2015, Dorothy B. Hughes, The Davidian Report

பகட்டான ஆனால் பயனற்ற

flimsy, shoddy, jerry-built: തിളങ്ങുന്നതെങ്കിലും നിസ്സാരമായ, ഗുണത്തിൽ മോശമായ, വിലകുറഞ്ഞതും വൃത്തികെട്ടതുമായ, ഗുണമില്ലാത്ത, കുറഞ്ഞ ചെലവിൽ ദ്രുതഗതിയിൽ നിർമ്മിച്ച, ബലഹീനമായ

'The Rape of the Lock' was 'gimcrack,' if you care to call it so; but it was a delicate brilliant work; and so, I repeat, was Maltby's 'Ariel'.1919, Sir Max Beerbohm, Seven Men, page 80:
The movie burnishes the image of this visionary C.E.O. [Steve Jobs] even as it tries to peek behind the curtain at the gimcrack machinery of omnipotence.2015 October 8, A[nthony] O[liver] Scott, “Review: 'Steve Jobs,' Apple's visionary C.E.O. dissected [print version: Apple's visionary...
Any little absurd gewgaw or gimcrack they had they disposed in such a way as to make it attract attention most readily.1999, Hilton Obenzinger, American Palestine: Melville, Twain, and the Holy Land Mania:
He led only a handful of record dates and some of these were gimcracked round a desire to feature the bass as a solo instrument, often rather artificially so.2010, Brian Morton, Richard Cook, The Penguin Jazz Guide:

Adjective
alternative form	jimcrack
Noun
plural	gimcracks
Verb
third-person singular present	gimcracks
present participle	gimcracking
past participle	gimcracked
past	gimcracked

Unknown.

What does gimcrack mean?: Gimcrack means showy but of poor quality; worthless.
What is gimcrack in Tamil?: Gimcrack in Tamil is பகட்டான ஆனால் பயனற்ற. See Gimcrack meaning in Tamil.
How do you use gimcrack in a sentence?: 'The Rape of the Lock' was 'gimcrack,' if you care to call it so; but it was a delicate brilliant work; and so, I repeat, was Maltby's 'Ariel'.
What part of speech is gimcrack?: Gimcrack can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce gimcrack?: Gimcrack is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɪmkɹæk/.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gimcrack.wav.

Cite this entry: “gimcrack.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gimcrack. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.