showy

English

Alternative forms

• shewey, shewy (obsolete)

Etymology

From show (noun) +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃəʊ.i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃoʊ.i/
• Rhymes: -əʊi
• Homophone: showie

Adjective

showy (comparative showier, superlative showiest)

1. (sometimes derogatory) Calling attention; flashy; standing out to the eye.
2. Making a striking or aesthetically pleasing display.

   showy flowers

3. (informal, chiefly of a literary work) Inclined to showing (by conveying an impression so that events are described in the narrative), instead of telling (by explicitly stating facts).

   Antonym: telly

   • 1999 November 21, sophie, “Squealer : first revision”, in alt.arts.poetry.comments‎^[1] (Usenet):

     I think my problem with it is that it's
     a) a little "telly" not "showy" in comparison to the rest […]

   • 2003 September 19, Patrick Null, “Failed Sept Challenge? (1409 words)”, in alt.fiction.original‎^[2] (Usenet):

     There's a way to make this more showy and less telly. It's like you're in a hurry to get on with the rest of the story.

   • 2009 May 18, @kimmcgowan, Twitter‎^[3], archived from the original on 2024-07-18:

     story is too, too telly; need at least 3 showy scenes to improve showing:telling ratio

   • 2016 February 12, Kelly, “Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo”, in Diva Booknerd‎^[4], archived from the original on 2024-07-18:

     Six of Crows is very telly and little showy. You are constantly getting info dumps and mini-flashbacks to the characters past.

   • 2024 July 1, pinkjamie, “Well...”, in BookishFirst‎^[5], archived from the original on 2024-07-18:

     The ending felt rushed to me, and I wish it would have been more showy and less telly.

Synonyms

• Thesaurus:gaudy

Hyponyms

• slutty

Derived terms

• showily
• showiness
• showy goatsbeard
• showy mistletoe
• showy orchis
• showy sundew

Translations

for show

• Bulgarian: показен (bg) (pokazen), ефектен (bg) (efekten)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 浮華 / 浮华 (zh) (fúhuá, fúhua), 繁华 (zh) (fánhuá)

• Czech: nápadný (cs)
• Dutch: opzichtig (nl)
• Finnish: näyttävä (fi), pramea (fi)
• French: tape-à-l’œil (fr)
• Galician: ostentoso m
• German: protzig (de), auffällig (de), schreiend (de), grell (de)
• Irish: éagsúil, taibhseach
• Japanese: 派手な (ja) (はでな, hade na), けばけばしい (ja) (kebakebashii)
• Macedonian: впе́чатлив (vpéčatliv), е́фектен (éfekten), све́тол (svétol), бе́звкусен (bézvkusen), јарк (jark), дре́члив (dréčliv)
• Persian: خودنما (fa) (xodnamâ) (of people)
• Polish: na pokaz (pl)
• Portuguese: mirabolante (pt), exibido (pt) m (derogatory)
• Russian: я́ркий (ru) (járkij) (bright), эффе́ктный (ru) (efféktnyj), впечатля́ющий (ru) (vpečatljájuščij), безвку́сный (ru) (bezvkúsnyj) (tasteless), пёстрый (ru) (pjóstryj) (motley), крича́щий (ru) (kričáščij), показно́й (ru) (pokaznój), на пока́з (na pokáz), напы́щенный (ru) (napýščennyj)
• Spanish: ostentoso (es), jactancioso (es), aparatoso (es), fardón (Spain, colloquial), de relumbrón
• Tagalog: mapagyabang, hambog (tl)

making a striking or aesthetically pleasing display

• German: auffällig (de), prächtig (de)
• Irish: péacach
• Spanish: vistoso (es)

Anagrams

• Whyos