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showman

American  
[shoh-muhn] / ˈʃoʊ mən /

noun

  • showmen
    plural
  1. a person who presents or produces a show, especially of a theatrical nature.

  2. a person who is gifted in doing or presenting things theatrically or dramatically.

    He didn't have much voice but was a great showman.


showman British  
/ ˈʃəʊmən /

noun

  1. a person who presents or produces a theatrical show, etc

  2. a person skilled at presenting anything in an effective manner

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Etymology

Origin of showman

First recorded in 1725–35; show + -man

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:

Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn is willfully and delightfully unpredictable: part showman, part provocateur.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 23, 2026

But wearing an England football scarf, Union Jack bucket hat and clutching a Paddington Bear, the showman energised a 75,000-strong, multi-generational crowd.

From BBC Jul. 19, 2026

Like the Pardoner in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” or famed American showman P.T.

From MarketWatch Jul. 2, 2026

The modest showman with a keen eye for image and a penchant for drama would have been delighted.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 12, 2026

Phineas Gage's mother said her son exhibited himself here at P. T. Barnum's American Museum on Broadway in New York City Barnum was the gaudiest showman and greatest hoaxer of his age.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

Orson and Lorenzo, consummate showmen, were summoned to prisons, where they inspected the heads of inmates and guessed their crimes; at lunatic asylums they were challenged to identify the patients’ disorders.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 29, 2026

"It's the end of an era, for over 100 years we and other showmen and their families have lived and worked in Porthcawl helping to make it a busy seaside destination," the Evans family added.

From BBC Jul. 10, 2025

But during the pre-broadcast part of the show, three savvy showmen spoke meaningfully and movingly about their calling.

From New York Times Jun. 17, 2024

John, easily one of music’s greatest living showmen, thanked his younger contemporary onstage and the tender exchange was immortalized online by fans, Coldplay and John himself.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 10, 2023

I may add that the charge so frequently brought against showmen, that the training of children for the circus ring is cruel, is not well founded.

From Sawdust & Spangles Stories & Secrets of the Circus by W. C. Coup

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