different between gimmick vs scheme

English

Etymology

Unknown. Possibly a rough anagram of magic or from gimme.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???m.?k/
• Rhymes: -?m?k

Noun

gimmick (plural gimmicks)

1. A trick or device used to attain some end.

   The box had a gimmick to make the coin appear to vanish.

   • April 19 2002, Scott Tobias, AV Club Fightville[1]

     Epperlein and Tucker focus on two featherweight hopefuls: Dustin Poirier, a formidable contender who’s looking to parlay a history of schoolyard violence and street-fighting into a potential career, and Albert Stainback, a more thoughtful yet more erratic and undisciplined fighter whose chief gimmick is entering the ring wearing a hat like the one Malcolm McDowell wore in A Clockwork Orange.

2. A clever ploy or strategy.

   The contest was a gimmick to get people to sign up for their mailing list.

3. (electronics) A gimmick capacitor.
4. (Philippines) A night out with one's friends.

Derived terms

• gimmicky
• gimmickry

Translations

Verb

gimmick (third-person singular simple present gimmicks, present participle gimmicking, simple past and past participle gimmicked)

1. To rig or set up with a trick or device.

   The magician's box was gimmicked with a wire that made it appear to open on its own.

Translations

French

Etymology

From English gimmick.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?i.mik/

Noun

gimmick m (plural gimmicks)

1. gimmick

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin sch?ma (“figure, form”), from Ancient Greek ????? (skhêma, “form, shape”), from ??? (ékh?, “I hold”). Doublet of schema. Compare sketch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ski?m/
• Rhymes: -i?m

Noun

scheme (plural schemes)

1. A systematic plan of future action.
   • c. 1713, Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects

     The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.
2. A plot or secret, devious plan.
3. An orderly combination of related parts.

   • the appearance and outward scheme of things

   • 1706, Francis Atterbury, A Sermon Preach'd in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul; at the Funeral of My. Tho. Bennett

     such a scheme of things as shall at once take in time and eternity

   • 1754, Jonathan Edwards, The Freedom of the Will

     arguments […] sufficient to support and demonstrate a whole scheme of moral philosophy
4. A chart or diagram of a system or object.
   • April 29, 1694, Robert South, A Sermon Preached at Westminster Abbey

     to draw an exact scheme of Constantinople, or a map of France

5. (mathematics) A type of geometric object.
6. (Britain, chiefly Scotland) A council housing estate.
   • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 2009, p. 101:

     It was all too dear. They all just put their prices up because it was out in the scheme.

7. (rhetoric) An artful deviation from the ordinary arrangement of words.
8. (astrology) A representation of the aspects of the celestial bodies for any moment or at a given event.
9. (Internet) Part of a uniform resource identifier indicating the protocol or other purpose, such as http: or news:.
10. (Britain, pensions) A portfolio of pension plans with related benefits comprising multiple independent members.

Usage notes

In the US, generally has devious connotations, while in the UK, frequently used as a neutral term for projects: “The road is closed due to a pavement-widening scheme.”

Synonyms

• (a systematic plan of future action): blueprint

Derived terms

• colour scheme
• pilot scheme

Descendants

• ? Malay: skim

Translations

Verb

scheme (third-person singular simple present schemes, present participle scheming, simple past and past participle schemed)

1. (intransitive) To plot, or contrive a plan.
2. (transitive) To plan; to contrive.
   • 1908, Bohemian Magazine (volume 15, page 381)

     He schemed a plot. He made use of the hotel's stationery to write a letter.

Translations

References

• Silva Rhetoricae

Anagrams

• Meches

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??e?m?/

Verb

scheme

1. (reflexive) to be ashamed

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Middle Low German

Etymology

From Old Saxon skimo (“shadow”). Originally masculine.

Pronunciation

• Stem vowel: ?¹
  • (originally) IPA^(key): /sk??m?/

Noun

scheme m or f

1. A shadow, a shade; a darkness created by an object obstructing light
2. A shadow, a shade; something which is barely perceptible or not physical

   ...lose se van der walt der dusternisse unde van deme scheme des dodes. (" ...free them from the power of darkness and the shadow of death." )

3. A shimmer; a soft or weak occurrence of light
4. twilight; the lighting conditions at dusk and dawn
5. A face mask
6. aureola

Alternative forms

• sceme