Today's Word "gimcrack"
Showy but useless or worthless object
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Published in Vocabulary
gimcrack \JIM-krak\ (noun) - 1 : A showy but useless or worthless object; a gewgaw.
(adjective) - 1 : Tastelessly showy; cheap; gaudy.
"There was something cheap and sentimental about the device the writer used to get his characters together and it seemed aesthetically gimcrack."
The origin of gimcrack is uncertain. It is perhaps an alteration of Middle English gibecrake, "a slight or flimsy ornament."