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:
A glossy video was shown during the event, with people speaking to and naming animated versions of their "dots," then giving them various tasks, like building a website and booking afterschool activities for their children.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
It was nearly a half decade ago that Lincoln Riley, dressed in a slick blue suit and glossy cardinal tie, stood atop the Coliseum’s rooftop deck, grinning as he gazed out across the field below.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
Her odyssey also takes her to Falster, an island at the bottom of the country, where she finds “a cluster of sooty coppers on a few glossy yellow flowers.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Thatched-roof houses appeared in glossy renderings, selling an idealized vision of life along this stretch of the Atlantic coast, just over an hour south of Lisbon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
In the produce market, short bananas dangled above glossy eggplant and bumpy avocados.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
They fit as naturally in cheap pulp magazines as in upmarket literary glossies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
That provided her the first step to move back East; she found a job at the Boston Phoenix and then the Boston Globe Magazine, and started writing for the glossies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2025
The well-made rock ‘n’ roll glossies on the market, like Mojo or Uncut, are British-based.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 18, 2022
As these early influencers began attending runway shows, they soon sat with the once powerful editors of those glossies.
From New York Times ● Feb. 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
Horror is one of those examples where the glossier something is the less scary it is.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2023
That energy has receded somewhat in the new “Irma Vep,” as befits its glossier sheen and extended running time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2022
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
Fashion likes to control its messaging, to frame its image and images in the glossiest, most perfect way possible.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2020
One says that the girl's hair was yellow, another that it023 was of the glossiest black.
From Renaissance in Italy, Volume 1 (of 7) The Age of the Despots by John Addington Symonds
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.
