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 heat makes berries slump and burst, pooling the pan with juices that turn thick, glossy and intensely flavored as they cook, a concentration that maceration alone simply can’t achieve.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
Those cost significantly less than glossy series and movies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
But it’s still built like a tasteful record store with hi-res audio and downloads, no ad tier, and a glossy music magazine championing outsider acts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
Newspapers were launching glossy weekend magazines, turning pop stars and artists into an new breed of classless celebrity.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
Instead of answering, she dumps the box over, and out spill hundreds of glossy brochures.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
The restaurant grew to 190 seats, its wall of fame featuring signed black-and-white glossies from Pee-wee Herman, Elizabeth Taylor and scores of others.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
They fit as naturally in cheap pulp magazines as in upmarket literary glossies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
An art lover who drew inspiration from painters as diverse as Bosch, Vermeer and Picasso, Mr. Sokolsky churned out arresting images that seemed as appropriate for gallery walls as they were for fashion glossies.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2022
The well-made rock ‘n’ roll glossies on the market, like Mojo or Uncut, are British-based.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 18, 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 had been brothy turned to something thicker, glossier — golden, almost velvety.
From Salon ● Apr. 16, 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
But in “The Waterfront,” Williamson’s main characters 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. 17, 2025
Horror is one of those examples where the glossier something is the less scary it is.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2023
Even so, his eyes look glossier, and the blue irises take on a lovely, reflective sheen.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
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
As she was preparing to release “Crash,” the glossiest album of her career as a solo pop artist, Charli XCX was in the doldrums.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2022
He wore a richly embroidered plum-colored coat, a waistcoat of costly velvet magnificently adorned with golden foliage, a pair of splendid scarlet breeches and the finest and glossiest of white silk stockings.
From Short Stories of Various Types by Freck, Laura F.
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.
