campier; campiest
: in the style of camp : absurdly exaggerated, artificial, or affected in a usually humorous way
campy horror movies
campy humor
Witnessing their synchronized routine, he almost expects them to break into some campy chorus line from one of the seedier nightclubs.—
Margaret Atwood
Margaret AtwoodHe could modify his outbursts into what were sometimes hilariously campy performances.—Robert Gray
Robert Gray
campily
adverb
The new film promises to be as campily outrageous as its predecessors.
—John Stark
John Stark
… the Addams Family, the campily macabre clan created by the late cartoonist Charles Addams …
—Margot Dougherty
Margot Dougherty
campiness
noun
… hoped to take Rocketeer to a much higher level of sophistication and avoid the campiness of some of the more recent comics-inspired films.
—Ron Magid
Ron Magid
… a power-mad despot, played with exhilarating campiness by John Malkovich.
—Steven Rebello
Steven Rebello
Examples of campy in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Wise planned to go campy full-robot for the mysterious bot character.
—Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 24 May 2025
Check out its wig-laden, campy music video, directed by Sandy Honig, below.
—Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 20 May 2025
Their drama is considered campy, entertaining, harmless.
—Shelby Stewart, Essence, 8 Apr. 2025
And bringing in a dream team of new ones — Hugh Grant as the ridiculously campy villain, Phoenix Buchanan — was also a breeze.
—Sarah Bahr, New York Times, 17 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for campy
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Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 24 May 2025
Check out its wig-laden, campy music video, directed by Sandy Honig, below.
—Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 20 May 2025
Their drama is considered campy, entertaining, harmless.
—Shelby Stewart, Essence, 8 Apr. 2025
And bringing in a dream team of new ones — Hugh Grant as the ridiculously campy villain, Phoenix Buchanan — was also a breeze.
—Sarah Bahr, New York Times, 17 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for campy
Cite this Entry
“Campy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/campy. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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