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

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

Pawnee Bill, the legendary Wild West showman and the onetime partner of Buffalo Bill, described Hale as a “high-class gentleman.”

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Busch emerged from a childhood in Las Vegas—where he sped a go-kart around his family’s cul-de-sac—to become one of racing’s premier showmen.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 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

Yet Diamond was just one of the flamboyant showmen Jackman aspired to emulate as he headlined the opening night of the Bowl’s 2025 season.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 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

At one place some of our showmen asked the waitress to bring them napkins, and she answered: "I am sorry, sirs, but the last show that was here ate them all up."

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

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