noun a drawback or difficulty that is not readily evident.
— synonyms: catch
noun something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known.
— synonyms: doodad, doohickey, doojigger, gizmo, gismo, gubbins, thingamabob, thingumabob
noun any clever maneuver.
— synonyms: device, twist
Examples
“The box had a gimmick to make the coin appear to vanish.”
“The contest was a gimmick to get people to sign up for their mailing list.”
“The magician's box was gimmicked with a wire that made it appear to open on its own.”