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
Since 1975, many, many have embraced this wild and wonderful confection that's part campy musical, part horror and all midnight movie.
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 23 Sep. 2025
While the obvious draw to the film is campy, gory coyote action, the couple is effusive about each other’s ability to pull off heavier moments during the family’s arc.
—William Earl, Variety, 22 Sep. 2025
During the winter holidays, Odette went in for big, vampy, campy decor.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Sep. 2025
Equal parts creepy and campy, Ultra Skelly is a wickedly fun way to raise your Halloween game from festive to frightful.
—PC Magazine, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for campy
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Brian Truitt, USA Today, 23 Sep. 2025
While the obvious draw to the film is campy, gory coyote action, the couple is effusive about each other’s ability to pull off heavier moments during the family’s arc.
—William Earl, Variety, 22 Sep. 2025
During the winter holidays, Odette went in for big, vampy, campy decor.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Sep. 2025
Equal parts creepy and campy, Ultra Skelly is a wickedly fun way to raise your Halloween game from festive to frightful.
—PC Magazine, 16 Sep. 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 26 Sep. 2025.
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