MacGuffin - meaning and definition. What is MacGuffin
Diclib.com
ChatGPT AI Dictionary
Enter a word or phrase in any language 👆
Language:

Translation and analysis of words by ChatGPT artificial intelligence

On this page you can get a detailed analysis of a word or phrase, produced by the best artificial intelligence technology to date:

  • how the word is used
  • frequency of use
  • it is used more often in oral or written speech
  • word translation options
  • usage examples (several phrases with translation)
  • etymology

What (who) is MacGuffin - definition


MacGuffin         
  • The "Maltese Falcon" statuette from the film of the same name
PLOT DEVICE
Macguffin; Mcguffin; Mac guffin; Plot coupon; Mcgruffin; MacGuffins; McGuffen; Macguffins; Mcguffins
In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail for film, adopted by Alfred Hitchcock, and later extended to a similar device in other fiction.
MacGuffin (cipher)         
BLOCK CIPHER
In cryptography, MacGuffin is a block cipher created in 1994 by Bruce Schneier and Matt Blaze at a Fast Software Encryption workshop. It was intended as a catalyst for analysis of a new cipher structure, known as Generalized Unbalanced Feistel Networks (GUFNs).
mcguffin         
  • The "Maltese Falcon" statuette from the film of the same name
FAMILY NAME
Macguffin; Mcguffin; Mac guffin; Plot coupon; Mcgruffin; MacGuffins; McGuffen; Macguffins; Mcguffins
Movie term, invented by Hitchcock, to refer to any interchangeable object - diamonds, secret plans, computer disk, rare animal etc. - that is the focus of the action in the plot, but which has no significance to the plot itself.
In The Pink Panther, the diamond is the McGuffin. It could have been anything.
Examples of use of MacGuffin
1. In an election, the MacGuffin takes the form of a scandal.
2. Which brings us to what Alfred Hitchcock used to call the MacGuffin – no decent thriller is complete without one.
3. The MacGuffin is the thing everybody‘s looking for, the diary or computer chip whose whereabouts drive the plot.
4. The media will spend most of the novel mucking around in each candidate‘s past, searching for the MacGuffin that will blow the campaign wide open.
5. It is a kind of mystery, in which the mystery is a very rich man, and the MacGuffin is a custom–made necklace from the fashionable London jeweller SJ Phillips.