Knack
[næk]
Definition
(v. i.) To crack; to make a sharp, abrupt noise to chink.
(v. i.) To speak affectedly.
(n.) A petty contrivance; a toy; a plaything; a knickknack.
(n.) A readiness in performance; aptness at doing something; skill; facility; dexterity.
(n.) Something performed, or to be done, requiring aptness and dexterity; a trick; a device.
Checked by Casey
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Toy, plaything, knick-knack, gimcrack, gewgaw, bawble, trifle, JIGGUMBOB.[2]. Dexterity, adroitness, dexterousness, skill, skilfulness, facility, aptness, aptitude, quickness, readiness, address, expertness.
Edited by Charlene
Definition
n. a petty contrivance: a toy: a nice trick: dexterity adroitness.—n. Knack′iness.—adjs. Knack′ish Knack′y cunning crafty.
Edited by Barrett
Examples
- They have the strangest knack of startling you with unpleasant surprises. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- She wondered at herself, as she had so often wondered, that, possessing the knack, she did not more consistently exercise it. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- You have the knack of torturing those who love you, beyond the possibility of endurance! Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- But doors and listeners have a knack of getting together; and, in my line of life, we cultivate a healthy taste for the open air. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Some men have a knack of keeping appointments; and other men have a knack of missing them. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Some fine, slight fingers have a wondrous knack at pulverizing a man's brittle pride. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Like many men who take life easily, he had the knack of saying a home truth occasionally to those who felt themselves virtuously out of temper. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- When attacked sometimes, Becky had a knack of adopting a demure ingenue air, under which she was most dangerous. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- He's too old to acquire the knack of it now--and too drunk. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Whitney had been a good student, had an attractive personality, and had already shown a natural knack for mechanics. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- The room altogether was full of knick-knacks, which must take a long time to dust; and time to people of limited income was money. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Of all the little knick-knacks in your dressing-case, there wasn't one that had so much as a speck on it. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Edith was impatient to get well, in order to fill Margaret's bed-room with all the soft comforts, and pretty nick-knacks, with which her own abounded. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
Checked by Dylan