campy
Americanadjective
adjective
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effeminate; affected in mannerisms, dress, etc
-
relating to or considered characteristic of homosexuals
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consciously artificial, exaggerated, vulgar, or mannered; self-parodying, esp when in dubious taste
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of campy
Explanation
Use the adjective campy to describe something that has a ridiculous, wacky appeal. Some movies are so exaggeratedly bad that they've got a campy kind of charm. Anything you describe as "so bad it's good" is probably campy. Many fans of over-the-top, campy films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, for example, find them wonderfully funny and strange. The early 20th-century slang meaning of camp was simply "tasteless," with campy emerging in the late 1950s. The root is uncertain, but it may be the French se camper, "to put oneself in a bold, provocative pose."
Vocabulary lists containing campy
The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky
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This Book Won't Burn
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Mr. Boorman seems proud of his handiwork, which to a more skeptical eye appears turgid, silly and more campy than frightening.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
But the costume gives the format permission to become playful, campy and theatrical, which may be why it feels so at home in restaurant television.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
It’s all chintzy and campy, the plundering of low-hanging fruit.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
"I love Doctor Who, but Torchwood was something else. It was quirky, it was campy, it was just a lot of fun," she said.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
It did not help that to pass the time Joe plucked incessantly at a ukulele, singing and whistling the campy tunes that he and his father enjoyed so much.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Seyfried’s moving work in “The Testament of Ann Lee” was followed closely by a far campier turn in “The Housemaid,” giving her an end-of-year pairing that nicely exhibited the scope of her abilities.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2026
For more LGBTQ+ vampires but in a campier sense of humor, “What We Do In the Shadows” adds another entry into the gay vampire canon.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 20, 2023
With a fresh Bruce Wayne looking over Gotham City — Val Kilmer — and in the campier, more pop-culture-friendly mold of its new director, Joel Schumacher, “Batman Forever” proved to be divisive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2023
Portrayed by David Dastmalchian in the film, Polka-Dot Man is emblematic of Batman’s campier adversaries of the 1960s.
From New York Times ● Aug. 6, 2021
As the red carpet looks grew campier, the reactions became more extreme.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 4, 2020
A revamped vampire tale: The Lost Boys, one of the 1980s’ campiest cult classics, just got adapted into a Broadway musical.
From Slate ● Jul. 9, 2026
What she presents is more like the world’s campiest cabaret act, with the Bride as a mashup of Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis and maybe Natasha Lyonne.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026
Based on that alone, while Thanksgiving may not be the campiest holiday — I'm personally torn over which holds that distinction — it's definitely up there.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2022
In the end, the campiest event of the night did not happen on the pink carpet.
From The New Yorker ● May 7, 2019
Slate calls it "the campiest moment" in the film.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2015
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