thingamabob
thingamabob noun: a thing or person whose actual name is unknown or forgotten.
Noun
thingamabob (plural thingamabobs)
- A thing or person whose actual name is unknown or forgotten.
- "The tin thingamabob," insisted Mr. Trigget with slow dignity. "Call it what you will. Its purpose is self-evident. It acts as a dispirator—a distributor, that is to say—"1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- thingy, whatshisname
Synonyms of thingamabob
Forms of thingamabob
| plural | thingamabobs |
|---|---|
| alternative form | thingamabobber |
| alternative form | thingamybob |
| alternative form | thingmabob |
| alternative form | thingumabob |
| alternative form | thingumbob |
| alternative form | thingumebob |
| alternative form | thingummabob |
| alternative form | thingummybob |
| alternative form | thingymabob |
Origin of thingamabob
Alteration of thingumbob: obsolete thingum (from thing) + bob. Earliest citation from 1751, as thingumbobs.
Questions about thingamabob
- What does thingamabob mean?
- Thingamabob means a thing or person whose actual name is unknown or forgotten.
- What part of speech is thingamabob?
- Thingamabob is a noun.
- What is the plural of thingamabob?
- The plural of thingamabob is thingamabobs.
Words near thingamabob in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: thingamabob (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-thingamabob.ogg.
Cite this entry: “thingamabob.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thingamabob. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.