showmanship

[shoh-muh n-ship]

the skill or ability of a showman.

Nearby words

First recorded in 1855–60; showman + -ship

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Many critics have disdain precisely for this strange messiness of his, this showmanship that dares to create a new order.
Frank Gehry Is Architecture’s Mad Genius|Sarah Moroz|October 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And so we can think back to boxing, the showmanship of it, the charged arrival of the man in the silk robe.
Oscar De La Hoya: What May Be Behind Cross-Dressing Rumors|Casey Schwartz|November 11, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Or, as former senator Rick Santorum put it, “showmanship, not leadership.”
Michele Bachmann’s Promise and Peril|Jill Lawrence|August 13, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Gordon: I felt like it was a kind of showmanship and this highly intellectual meta-fictional move.
The David Foster Wallace Generation|Seth Colter Walls|April 7, 2011|DAILY BEAST

Much information about showmanship is given in our makeup classes.
The Art of Stage Dancing|Ned Wayburn
In doing this you make use of an excellent little piece of showmanship; you pretend to be very nervous.
Water Wizardry|Arthur Ainslie
His anger struggled with his pleasure at Hugo's showmanship.
Gladiator|Philip Wylie
As for the rest of the trick, the effect is produced entirely by showmanship.
Water Wizardry|Arthur Ainslie
As for Fanny's method; here is a typical example of her somewhat crude effectiveness in showmanship.
Fanny Herself|Edna Ferber

Word Origin and History for showmanship

1859, from showman "one who presents shows" + -ship.