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 Etruscans are also known for their bucchero ceramics, pottery they made with an inventive process that turns red clay into glossy black pieces, which they sometimes incised.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Bake for 12 to 16 minutes, until the crackers look glossy, smell deeply savory and have turned a slightly toastier shade of gold.
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 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
The butterflies, tilting and sailing over glossy fruit trees, were like nothing she had ever seen.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
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
None of the other 14 contestants, though, can flex that they were a sous chef at Noma, which is often cited by many glossies and awards as the world’s best restaurant.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 25, 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
Glossy is glossy, but for a few seconds, we believe that some gloss is glossier than others.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2024
The “Hazbin” pilot was weird and quirky, with outlandish humor and mature themes, and so is the series, even as it feels bigger, glossier and more expensive.
From New York Times ● Jan. 22, 2024
I think I could give him a few tips from my own professional experience: his peach halves could be glossier, for instance.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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
At age 26, Mr. Picardi, the head of Teen Vogue, is a rising star at this glossiest of magazine publishers, whose titles also include Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Architectural Digest.
From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2018
Well, at all events, it was a peculiarity fortunate for Esther's purpose, as one morning, soon after breakfast, she went about the garden cutting the glossiest branches of the distinguished tree.
From Young Lives by Richard Le Gallienne
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.
