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: a cause of error or equipment malfunction (as in aircraft) conceived of as a small mischievous gnome
Synonyms
Examples of gremlin in a Sentence
during the World Wars, fighter pilots adopted the fanciful notion that gremlins were responsible for mechanical failures on their planes
Recent Examples on the Web
With McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari introducing new updates almost every week, Red Bull has precious little time to address its gremlins.
—Dan Cancian, Forbes, 9 Sep. 2024
Or Starliner has gremlins, which could explain a lot.
—David Szondy, New Atlas, 1 Sep. 2024
Dinner severely lacks salt, and the salt gremlin at the back of my brain is not happy.
—R29 Team, refinery29.com, 12 Jan. 2024
Using the Windows install that comes out of the box is probably fine on most of these, but blowing away the existing install and starting fresh is the surest way to exorcise any gremlins.
—Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 1 Apr. 2024
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Word History
Etymology
origin unknown
First Known Use
1941, in the meaning defined above
Articles Related to gremlin
Dictionary Entries Near gremlin
Cite this Entry
“Gremlin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gremlin. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.
Kids Definition
gremlin
noun
grem·lin
ˈgrem-lən
: a small mischievous or troublesome creature
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