variants
or less commonly nicknack
plural knickknacks also nicknacks
: a small trivial article usually intended for ornament
a collection of colorful knickknacks
Known in the computer industry as tchotchkes, which is Yiddish for cheap trinkets, the knickknacks distributed in the past year have included "Love Me Tender" toilet-roll dispensers, wax eyeballs, chocolate computers and Nerf-ball launchers.—
Jim Carlton
Jim CarltonMelissa Etheridge's spacious two-story home outside Los Angeles is filled with knickknacks from her life: Aside from awards and photos, there is a small collection of vintage neon clocks … and a Thelma & Louise poster signed by the cast (including a then-unknown Brad Pitt).—Lynette Rice
Lynette RiceSynonyms
Examples of knickknack in a Sentence
The shelves were filled with knickknacks.
a variety of pretty porcelain knickknacks adorned the mantel
Recent Examples on the Web
Gottlieb was also a prodigious collector of kitschy knickknacks.
—Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 17 June 2024
La Chimera Alice Rohrwacher’s film follows Arthur Harrison (Josh O’Connor), a strange man with a strange gift for robbing graves, finding and lifting the antique knickknacks the ancient Etruscans of central Italy used to bury with their dead.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 4 June 2024
This is the promotional image for the collector's edition with all its physical knickknacks.
—Samuel Axon, Ars Technica, 2 May 2024
Some 30,000 people viewed the pre-sale displays of furniture, jewelry and White House knickknacks and snapped up more than 100,000 catalogs, at $90 in hardcover and $45 in softcover.
Prices, driven by ecstasies of nostalgia, went through the roof.
—Trip Gabriel, New York Times, 21 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for knickknack 
Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 17 June 2024
La Chimera Alice Rohrwacher’s film follows Arthur Harrison (Josh O’Connor), a strange man with a strange gift for robbing graves, finding and lifting the antique knickknacks the ancient Etruscans of central Italy used to bury with their dead.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 4 June 2024
This is the promotional image for the collector's edition with all its physical knickknacks.
—Samuel Axon, Ars Technica, 2 May 2024
Some 30,000 people viewed the pre-sale displays of furniture, jewelry and White House knickknacks and snapped up more than 100,000 catalogs, at $90 in hardcover and $45 in softcover.
Prices, driven by ecstasies of nostalgia, went through the roof.
—Trip Gabriel, New York Times, 21 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for knickknack
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'knickknack.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Knickknack.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knickknack. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
knickknack
noun
knick·knack
ˈnik-ˌnak 
: a small ornamental object
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