exhibitionist

American  

[ek-suh-bish-uh-nist] / ˌɛk səˈbɪʃ ə nɪst /

noun

1. a person who behaves in ways intended to attract attention or display their powers, personality, etc.

2. Psychiatry. a person with the compulsions of exhibitionism.

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Usage

What does exhibitionist mean? In psychiatry, an exhibitionist is someone who has a compulsion to exhibit, or display, their genitals in public. Exhibitionist can also be used in nonclinical, everyday speech to refer to a show-off or a person who overshares.A popular slang term for exhibitionist is flasher, but keep in mind that a person diagnosed as an exhibitionist has a clinical disorder.Example: She called him an exhibitionist for his tendency to share too much personal information at parties.

Other Word Forms

• exhibitionistic adjective
• exhibitionistically adverb
• nonexhibitionistic adjective
• semiexhibitionist noun

Etymology

Origin of exhibitionist

First recorded in 1815–25; exhibition + -ist

Example Sentences

As to character, Mr. Brown portrays Roosevelt as a “flaming exhibitionist” with “megalomania” and “Napoleonic swagger.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The role suited Reid Banks' exhibitionist nature - but being "booted off" to the job of backroom scriptwriter did not.

From BBC

But back then, only science fiction writers could have foretold the tech revolution and the galaxies of social media platforms that formed a new universe of exhibitionist buffoons.

From Washington Post

I probably have always been an exhibitionist, but I've done things that I never thought I could do, and it is because of cancer.

From BBC

Only an exhibitionist would want to live in constant public view, although there do seem to be a lot of those around.

From Washington Post