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.

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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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• showmanship
  noun
• showmanly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• showmen
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of showman

First recorded in 1725–35; show + -man

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

showman showmen

Santiago Sainz, president of Ford France, tried to do his best showman routine, puffing up the brand in a busy exhibit hall alongside high-tech luxury models from BYD’s premium brand and Huawei-backed newcomer Aito.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 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 third-placed candidate Paloma Valencia, a conservative, has thrown her support behind the right-wing showman, putting him in pole position to become the next president of one of Washington's closest South American allies.

From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026

Khrushchev was a showman and a gambler, agency doctors concluded.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

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

Acquiring Doncic has helped bring showtime back to the Lakers, to fill the courtside seats with A-list celebrities while one of basketball’s top showmen revels on the golden stage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 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

The showmen were packing their monkeys, ostrich, and ichneumon, temporarily hobbling their elephant, and counting up the proceeds of the day, and making ready for a fresh swindle upon some adjacent town.

From The Puddleford Papers, Or Humors of the West by H. H. Riley

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