flashy
Americanadjective
-
flashier,
comparative
-
flashiest
superlative
-
sparkling or brilliant, especially in a superficial way or for the moment.
a flashy performance.
-
ostentatiously or vulgarly smart; showy; gaudy.
flashy clothes.
adjective
-
brilliant and dazzling, esp for a short time or in a superficial way
-
cheap and ostentatious
Synonym Usage
See gaudy 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of flashy
Explanation
To be flashy is to be showy in a tasteless way. Just like a flash of light is hard to ignore, flashy behavior draws attention. Do you know anyone who is a show-off? That person is probably flashy. Wearing brightly colored rings is flashy. Buying a sports car is flashy. Boasting about how much money you have is flashy. Flashy behavior is the opposite of classy: it consists of showing off things in a loud, obnoxious way.
Vocabulary lists containing flashy
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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Long Way Down
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Because of Mr. Terupt
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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:
I don’t drive a flashy car or dress extravagantly, and we both keep a pretty low profile.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
"They need to have flashy tests" because anything less would be seen as a failure, she added.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
"It's all very well having this flashy report, but it's useless if they don't put that into practice," says Omari, 22.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
The climactic section “Cosmic Bloom,” a flashy interstellar big bang, doesn’t transcend the sum of its parts as it was meant to.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Living in Harlem, I’ve had to tone down my flashy zoots, and it’s just as well; those old fancy ones don’t fit me anymore anyway.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
Car sales account for the bulk of Tesla’s revenue, which it needs to fund flashier projects like robotaxis and humanoid robots that can excite investors.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
But in a digital age of flashier bells and whistles, why are comics appealing to them?
From BBC ● Dec. 13, 2025
Some want a media relations manager by a slightly flashier name.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
The Vazquezes introduced the “on-1” step and innovated a flashier, dramatic style of salsa in L.A. that brought crowds to competitions and congresses through the 2000s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2025
He liked to shoot pool in his spare time, he played cards and dressed like a man from a much flashier part of the country.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
The flashiest deliverable is the promise to build 196,000 more public-housing units over the next five years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Wagner notes that the 5-foot-7 player’s game isn’t the flashiest, but describes her as a “silent killer” who excels at “redirecting pace, standing close to the baseline, constantly putting pressure on her opponents.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
The first-order winners may not be the flashiest robot brands.
From MarketWatch ● May 27, 2026
The winners are no longer the flashiest growth stories, but operators that can keep a tight grip on costs while convincing consumers that a meal out is still worth the money.
From Barron's ● Dec. 28, 2025
If Twig had been in town, she would have protested and worn the flashiest costume she could find—probably something that lit up or made noise—but she was in Paris with her mom for the week.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
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.
