Word.ws English Dictionary

MacGuffins

MacGuffins is the plural of MacGuffin.

Meaning of MacGuffin

Noun

MacGuffin (plural MacGuffins)

  1. A plot element or other device used to catch the audience's attention and maintain suspense, but whose exact nature has fairly little influence over the storyline.
    • " […] But we wound up realizing you really can't top yourself. You just tell a different story and hope the new MacGuffin is as compelling as the last MacGuffin."2000, Steven Spielberg, Lester D. Friedman, Brent Notbohm, Steven Spielberg: Interviews

See all 2 meanings of MacGuffin

Questions about MacGuffins

What is MacGuffins the plural of?
MacGuffins is the plural of MacGuffin.

Words near MacGuffins in the dictionary

  1. MacGregor
  2. MacGregors
  3. MacGuff
  4. MacGuffin
  5. MacGuffinite
  6. MacGuffins
  7. macgyver
  8. macgyvered
  9. MacGyvering
  10. MacGyverism
  11. MacGyverisms

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: MacGuffins (page history and authors); MacGuffin (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

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