cartoonish

British  

/ ˌkɑːˈtuːnɪʃ /

adjective

1. like a cartoon, esp in being one-dimensional, brightly coloured, or exaggerated

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Explanation

Something cartoonish is exaggerated and overly simplified, like your cartoonish drawing of a cat or a cartoonish movie villain. This adjective can mean "like a cartoon," as in the simple, unrealistic illustrations in a kid's book. It also describes things that are over-the-top and a bit silly: "Their cartoonish makeup looked fine onstage, but it's too much up close!" If the bad guy in a film grins evilly and twirls his mustache, most viewers will find him a little cartoonish. The word comes from cartoon, originally "a drawing on strong paper," from a root meaning "heavy paper."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cartoonish

"They're travelling at such pace that actually the riders' hair is blown back in quite an expressive cartoonish way, to show how fast they're moving".

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Count on the ubiquitous “XX” that typically stand in for eyeballs on the Companion character and the artist’s other dark cartoonish creations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

Moody had made his name as an anticorruption crusader during his tenure as the state’s attorney general: Borger’s cartoonish governmental lawlessness struck him as both a political liability and a moral affront.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

Lifelike meme videos have also been used to depict fictional Iranian military victories and even the strategic Strait of Hormuz reimagined as a cartoonish toll booth.

From Barron's ● Apr. 2, 2026

The only sound from the reaction is a cartoonish FWOOOOMP, which makes things a little more surreal.

From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell