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:
And they give its contours just the right glossy sheen a hovering vehicle demands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Fans of Rosales’ art and archival Instagram accounts will be pleased to find that her rasquache sensibility is present from glossy cover to glossy cover.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
At 37, Wang Zhuang had almost given up hope of finding a wife, until he saw the glossy matchmaking adverts.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
In April, a stroll they took on the Mediterranean island Corsica made the cover and a 10-page photo spread in the glossy society magazine Paris Match.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
I take a shaky step onto the glossy black floor of the prison.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
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
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
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
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
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
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
Forty years ago Lady Kirkbank's long ringlets had been darkest glossiest brown, to-day she wore a tousled fringe of bright yellow, piquantly contrasting with Vandyke brown eyebrows.
From Phantom Fortune, a Novel by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon
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.
