glossy
Americanadjective
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smooth and shiny; lustrous
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superficially attractive; plausible
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(of a magazine) lavishly produced on shiny paper and usually with many colour photographs
noun
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Also called (US): slick. an expensively produced magazine, typically a sophisticated fashion or glamour magazine, printed on shiny paper and containing high quality colour photography Compare pulp
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a photograph printed on paper that has a smooth shiny surface
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of glossy
Explanation
Something that is glossy is something that shines or is attractive. Things that are glossy reflect light, like certain types of lipstick. Glossy paper is smooth and has a shine to it, like the paper of most calendars. The word glossy sounds a little bit like the word glassy, which is a good way to remember it. Things that are glossy sort of look like glass, meaning they have a shine to them. After your teeth are cleaned, they'll hopefully look glossy. When you print photographs, you can choose a glossy finish — that’s when the image looks shiny and smooth. In that instance, the opposite of glossy is matte, a sort of rougher finish that doesn’t reflect light.
Vocabulary lists containing glossy
List 3
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Goodbye Stranger
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Let There Be Light: Synonyms for "Bright"
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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:
The spread already offers plenty of visual interest: bread piled high, bowls of herbs, cheerful wedges of citrus, golden cornbread, glossy bottles of oil and vinegar.
From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026
Evans initially seems to think they’re participating in a project closer to Netflix’s glossy portrait of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
Some were intact and she was surprised to see they still contained a viscous, glossy residue.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
The program identifies its cast of 15 as “Mother,” “Offspring,” “Community” and “Fledglings,” all costumed by Viktor&Rolf in mostly glossy unitards that range from hues of burnished gold to polished bronze.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Her brown skin looks glossy today, probably from whatever moisturizer she’s being paid to promote on her wildly popular Instagram.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
They fit as naturally in cheap pulp magazines as in upmarket literary glossies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Carter’s detailed account of the overhead and rigorous scheduling that go into running a magazine is eye-opening, and makes it pretty easy to see why so many glossies didn’t survive the digital transition.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2025
As a young teenager, I'd walk downstairs to our basement and find the ping pong table covered with large glossies of Carol Alt, Paulina Porizkova, Patti Hansen, and Iman, from photoshoots my dad directed.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2022
As a result, Ms. Lowit’s photographs exposed the humanity and the humor behind the famous faces of fashion, who often seemed frozen in an idealized state in the pages of the fashion glossies.
From New York Times ● Sep. 24, 2022
All the glossies I’d pored over in my bedroom at home, admiring the gymnasts who’d reached the top of the sport.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
What begins as separate elements becomes something looser, glossier, edged in caramelization.
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2026
The budget for microdramas is usually between $100,000 and $250,000 for an entire season, compared with millions of dollars for glossier full-length shows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
The main characters in Kevin Williamson’s Netflix series are a multigenerational cast of adults whose lives are glossier and grittier than what audiences remember from the ‘Dawson’s’ gang.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2025
Although Doherty and the characters she played usually seemed to inhabit a glossier, more beautiful world, she was always someone viewers could relate to on screen, and was a self-proclaimed "badass" in real life.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2024
All of them were from male cormorants whose feathers are thicker than those of the females and much glossier.
From "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell
And today, F1 isn’t merely one of Apple’s glossiest global partners with a blockbuster movie to show for it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
For those still determined to aim for the furthest, glossiest reaches of the Benjamin Moore color wheel, there are some caveats.
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2023
The U.K. pop rockers return to Sodo at their glossiest, riding high on this year’s ballyhooed “Being Funny in a Foreign Language.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 16, 2022
From the Champs Élysées to Avenue Montaigne and along the Rue St.-Honoré, the glossiest and most glamorous shopping streets of central Paris are usually bustling on Saturdays in December.
From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2018
This last, twined among the glossiest and darkest leaves of the rhododendron, forms a fitting crown for the gray hairs of the dead, passing away in fullness of years and of honors.
From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2 No 4, October, 1862 Devoted To Literature And National Policy by Various
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