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: an often small mechanical or electronic device with a practical use but often thought of as a novelty
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Other Words from gadget
Examples of gadget in a Sentence
The kitchen is equipped with all the latest gadgets.
cell phones, pagers, and other gadgets
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Andy Greenberg, Wired, “Hacker Lexicon: What Is a Side Channel Attack?,” 21 June 2020 More experienced golfers, Ostrom adds, are usually into any gadget that will help improve their game.
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Lesley Kennedy, CNN Underscored, “The best golf gear, according to experts,” 18 June 2020 Before the coronavirus pandemic, Chowbotic’s salad-making robot named Sally was mostly seen in the food world as a quirky, non-essential gadget capable of stealing headlines for any business using one.
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Justin Phillips, SFChronicle.com, “Salad robots, smoothie robots and vertical farms: Bay Area food automation goes from niche to necessity during pandemic,” 16 June 2020 The gadget evolved to become the graphophone, designed by Alexander Graham Bell, which was later replaced by Emile Berliner’s gramophone.
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The Economist, “Sofa sessions The pandemic has brought about a home-studio boom,” 15 June 2020 From the classic bacon, egg and cheese line-up to a more complex cheddar, apple and egg croissant, the opportunities for flavor are endless with this gadget.
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Melissa Lee, USA TODAY, “This best-selling breakfast sandwich maker is on sale at a big discount,” 12 June 2020 Digital Trends posts online technology news, gadget reviews and instructional guides.
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oregonlive, “Portland tech site Digital Trends acknowledges ‘bro culture,’ diversity failings: ‘we are sorry’,” 12 June 2020 As expected, his initial foray into online relationships generated a lot of blank stares and compulsive gadget fidgeting.
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Elissa Strauss, CNN, “How to engage preschoolers on Zoom when social bonding is more important than ever,” 10 June 2020 In response, accessory-makers offered up all kinds of crazy add-ons, from booklight-like gadgets that shone light onto the screen to bulky screen magnifiers with bulbs and batteries in them.
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Brendan Nystedt, Wired, “Retro Hackers Are Building a Better Nintendo Game Boy,” 10 June 2020
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘gadget.’ Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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First Known Use of gadget
1886, in the meaning defined above
History and Etymology for gadget
perhaps a sound-symbolic coinage, with final as in fidget entry 1, midget, idjit (nonstandard form of idiot)
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Cite this Entry
“Gadget.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gadget. Accessed 2 Jul. 2020.
More Definitions for gadget
Kids Definition of gadget
: a small useful device that is often interesting, unfamiliar, or unusual
Comments on gadget
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