adjective
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gaudy, flashy, or ostentatious
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making a brilliant or imposing display
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of showy
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:
Wintour was reportedly “underwhelmed” by Malle’s selection, but who doesn’t love a showy primary?
From Salon ● May 5, 2026
He also tried showy penstemons, but they didn’t like the shade near the house.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2026
Tahini has a kind of quiet luxury to it — less sweet than nut butters, less showy, with a soft, earthy depth that can tip, just slightly, into bitterness in a way that feels intentional.
From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2026
It’s been a while since the University of Chicago has had a showy run like the one now happening in men’s basketball.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
She had been raised to appreciate anything that was old and to hold in mild contempt anything new or showy.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Yes: Alcaraz is the faster, showier player, capable of mad sprints to pull out improbable winners, but Sinner’s developed real range.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2025
Maybe it’s happiest tucked into a cast-iron skillet, going golden and jammy while the showier types preen in their baskets.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2025
However, Stone has the showier role as Poor Things' charming protagonist Bella Baxter, while Gladstone's dignified and resilient Molly Kyle in Flower Moon is a more understated part that enjoys considerably less screen time.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2024
Spacek has the showier role as the seething, vengeful Ruth, a lobster fisherman’s Lady Macbeth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2023
It was a very large ruby, but I've seen showier rings.
From Where There's a Will by Rinehart, Mary Roberts
The biggest music stars and the showiest productions are enjoying broad popularity right now.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
In this sense, Youngelson’s film is not formally spectacular and doesn’t necessarily pack the showiest emotional wallop.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2023
Liquids are a compelling reason to explore the new restaurant, which features some winning cocktails, the showiest of which, To Mule or Not to Mule, arrives in a horn-shaped glass.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 5, 2022
He stepped into passing lanes on back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter for breakaway highlight dunks, the showiest moments of another efficient 14-for-21 shooting night.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2022
Everyone, meanwhile, appears to be blending into a classless crowd, shedding the showiest kinds of high-status clothes in favor of a jeans-and-sweatsuit informality.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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.
