showboat
Americannoun
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of showboat
Explanation
A showboat is someone who loves to be the center of attention, like your cousin who uses every family get-together to demonstrate her tap dancing and baton-twirling abilities. A showboat is a show-off on a grand scale, someone who very obviously wants attention. It's also a verb, often used for grandstanding athletes: "If you hadn't showboated while you were practicing your skateboard tricks, you probably wouldn't have broken your arm!" This "show-off" meaning derives from the original showboats, which were riverboat theaters that presented plays, vaudeville acts, and equestrian shows up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Vocabulary lists containing showboat
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:
He’s a showboat who dresses like Bootsy Collins and vows he’s the next Phil Collins.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
Species tulips, sometimes called wild or botanical tulips, are the unlikely ancestors of modern showboat blooms.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
It was then the home fighter's turn to showboat, poking his tongue out to his rival as Edwards landed a clean right hand.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2023
“Some people worried was Martin O’Malley going to be a showboat — but guess what? He turned out to be a tugboat,” Ms. Mikulski said.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 2, 2023
He looked pretty good until he saw me watching him, then he tried to showboat.
From "Slam!" by Walter Dean Myers
He knows how to showcase himself well, but he never showboats.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2020
Sia definitely showboats in her performance, which is annoying, but she has the vocal chops to do it, especially in comparison to some of the other chumps in the video.
From Slate ● Mar. 19, 2020
The Clippers were the Hollywood heels — complainers and showboats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2018
Yiddish journalists were showboats, garnishing tabloid sensationalism with literary jokes and religious references.
From New York Times ● Dec. 1, 2017
He rarely argues with officials, never showboats and rarely, if ever, exchanges words with competitors.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 6, 2012
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.
