Definition of "gimmick" []

• A device employed to cheat, deceive, or trick, especially a mechanism for the secret and dishonest control of gambling apparatus. (noun)
• An innovative or unusual mechanical contrivance; a gadget. (noun)
• An innovative stratagem or scheme employed especially to promote a project: an advertising gimmick. (noun)
• A significant feature that is obscured, misrepresented, or not readily evident; a catch. (noun)
• A small object whose name does not come readily to mind. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But while this gimmick is an interesting starting point, von Trier and Scorsese would have to find a way to twist the story that makes it worth telling again."
• "White House chief of staff William Daley told NBC the debt ceiling "must be extended in a way that gives certainty to economy through '13 and not some short term gimmick where we're right back in this fix in six or eight months.""
• "While he challenges Democrat Coakley to take the pledge, which she calls a gimmick, Coakley toured the Lynn Community Health Center, where officials cite her winning lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies."