noun
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short for carnival
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a person who works in a carnival
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of carny
First recorded in 1930–35; carn(ival) + -y 2
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:
The man is rhapsodically shameless—oafishly charismatic, memorably strange-looking—a cynic at heart, and a carny in spirit.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
Professional wrestling and carny culture can be great fun.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2025
I’m a carny, and I’ve left the tent.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 20, 2023
Combining old-fashioned practicality with the shameless hustle of a sideshow carny and driven by a narcissistic thirst for attention, Davis, who patented the body armor in the early 1970s, certainly makes for a timely protagonist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2022
Some people never really adjusted to carny life—where everybody knows everything.
From Charley de Milo by Laurence M. Janifer
His principled defense of free speech shouldn’t preclude him from excluding the cranks and carnies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
His follow-up, “Nightmare Alley,” is a bleak tale of carnies, grifters and a dishonest society that creates a far more despairing portrait of the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2021
Not obviously with actors because we're basically shiftless carnies you know.
From Fox News ● Oct. 22, 2019
On “Carnivàle,” the moody period drama that ran from 2003 to 2005 on HBO, the big bad was the anti-pleasure minister, not the carnies he preached against.
From New York Times ● Aug. 12, 2019
With its warm weather and special zoning laws allowing carnies to keep midway rides and wild animals in their back yards, the town was the Hollywood of human oddities.
From Slate ● Dec. 1, 2012
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
