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• road show
  road show

  noun

  a show, such as a play or musical comedy, performed by a touring group of actors.
• road-show
  road-show

  adjective

  of or relating to road shows.

road show

¹ American  

Or roadshow

noun

1. a show, such as a play or musical comedy, performed by a touring group of actors.

2. an important motion picture, usually presented only twice daily on a reserved-seat basis and at increased prices.

3. any traveling exhibit, such as one promoting a company's products or a government program.

4. Informal. any group traveling around the country for a specific purpose, such as a political candidate together with an entourage.

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road-show ² American  

[rohd-shoh] / ˈroʊdˈʃoʊ /

adjective

1. of or relating to road shows.

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verb (used with object)

road-showed, road-showing

1. to present as a road show.

road show British  

noun

1. 1. a radio show broadcast live from one of a number of towns or venues being visited by a disc jockey who is touring an area

   2. the touring disc jockey and the personnel and equipment needed to present such a show

      the Radio 1 road show will be in Brighton next week

2. a group of entertainers, esp pop musicians, on tour

3. any occasion when an organization attracts publicity while touring or visiting

   an antiques road show

   a royal road show

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road show Idioms  

1. A tour made for a particular purpose, especially a political campaign. For example, It was primary season, and every would-be candidate was planning a road show. This term originated about 1900 for touring theatrical productions and in the mid-1900s began to be transferred to other endeavors.

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Etymology

Origin of road show¹

An Americanism dating back to 1905–10

Origin of road-show²

First recorded in 1870–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

road show road-show

SpaceX itself reiterated during its IPO road show that “retail investor participation is important to SpaceX.”

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026

Filming a road show like that might not require Florsheims.

From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026

“The Music Is Black” and the Storehouse up the road show how it can be fixed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026

Indeed, Cassidy’s road show, which he’s been workshopping sporadically since 2019, is a songs-and-stories affair in which he looks back on an eventful life he has yet to recount in a book.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2025

The horse’s campaign became a road show of athletic futility.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

Governance complexity, lofty valuations and the gap between narrative and profitability are worth reading carefully before the road-show hype takes over.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026

Mr. Dodd and Mr. Frank, who have developed something of a road-show comedy act, expressed their appreciation for the work of the agency while acknowledging that it continues to draw critics.

From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2015

The film was shown as it initially played in the '60s -- road-show style, with an overture and an intermission.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2015

Yet there’s something road-show, something very Kansas, about the enterprise.

From Time ● Mar. 6, 2013

He loves the sawdust trail and conducts a road-show crusade about once a month.

From Time Magazine Archive