gimcrack.

1. A showy object that has little usefulness or lasting value.

2. Cheap or poorly made, despite a showy or superficially attractive appearance.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a gilded gimcrack
• ornamental gimcracks

On the page

Among the broken ornaments, he found one gilded gimcrack worth repairing.

She cleared the shelf of souvenir gimcracks.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated prose. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: Noun singular gimcrack; plural gimcracks. Adjective usually a plain modifier; comparative more gimcrack and superlative most gimcrack only when a comparison is meaningful. Commonness: uncommon (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: Direct dictionary reading: noun showy object of little use/value; adjective cheap or shoddy. The useful adjective provides a quality distinction beyond the noun overlap with gewgaw. Individual usefulness checked for a precise literary, narrative, dialogue or critical function. Definitions and examples are original; commonness is an editorial estimate. Mood and intensity apply only to inherent qualities of the specific sense. Writing functions: showy ornaments with little use, poor quality hidden by superficial display.