How to Use showboat in a Sentence

showboat

1 of 2 noun
  • The fans like him, but the other players think he's a showboat.
  • But a performance — even one as showboat-y as this — does not a movie make.
    — Michael O'Sullivan, The Denver Post, 27 Jan. 2017
  • The city owns the showboat and does not fly a confederate flag.
    — David Bailey, Detroit Free Press, 17 Aug. 2017
  • Yes, Weegee wasn’t only a showboat but a man with an eye for black humor.
    — Sarah Boxer, New York Times, 1 June 2018
  • Metcalfe said Barrera at a young age had a tendency to show a lazy streak or showboat.
    — Shawn McFarland, courant.com, 4 Oct. 2020
  • To be sure, Newton’s showboat style puts some off – and his looks are not ones that most people can, or should try to, pull off.
    — Cristina Bolling, charlotteobserver, 18 July 2017
  • Beyond the showboat rib, the menu brought both surprises and solid standouts.
    — Mike Sutter, San Antonio Express-News, 10 June 2021
  • Then there's all the eye rolling over what a self-aggrandizing showboat Cheney is being.
    — Frank Bruni New York Times, Star Tribune, 10 May 2021
  • Her character, Corrine, is bold and sparkly, the kind of showboat who leaps atop a bar to belt Wham!
    — Amy Nicholson, Variety, 7 Sep. 2023
  • Keoghan’s performance is a bit of a showboat stunt (he’s supposed to be a terrible father but doesn’t seem like a father at all).
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 17 May 2024
  • Rickles, ever the showboat, used to roast De Niro on a daily basis on the set, which would always make the crew laugh.
    — Yohana Desta, HWD, 25 Sep. 2017
  • It was viewed as a showboat move by some, but when the bill passed, members of Congress and their staffs recognized Marler.
    — Washington Post, 19 Jan. 2020
  • Despite the game being stopped, Curry continued towards the basket to throw down a showboat dunk just for fun.
    — Andrew Joseph, USA TODAY, 26 Oct. 2017
  • For an actor, there’s an obvious showboat appeal to playing a serious out-of-control drunk.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 25 Mar. 2022
  • These rough-hewn showboats of the log drive are put together at the upper end of the river and follow the riverjacks downstream—tying up along the bank each night.
    — Popular Mechanics Editors, Popular Mechanics, 16 Feb. 2019
  • In 2000, the showboat was destroyed by fire during a renovation project.
    — Josh Verges, Twin Cities, 16 Sep. 2019
  • Back then, skeptics tried to describe him in ways that limited his accomplishments — dismissing him as selfish or a showboat.
    — Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 2023
  • Marian is the opposite of a showboat, but Foster dims her radiance more than is necessary.
    — Charles McNultytheater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2022
  • And the Omura’s keeps a relatively low profile compared to showboats like humpbacks, which make eye-catching leaps out of the water.
    — National Geographic, 10 Feb. 2016
  • Pogba is undoubtedly a magnificent player but does love to showboat.
    — SI.com, 13 Sep. 2017
  • Tammy Faye, meanwhile, is a vivacious believer who falls in love with Jim and is happy to hitch herself to the choo-choo train of his showboat faith.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 12 Sep. 2021
  • The only thing that outstaged Cruise's showboat helicopter entrance was that magnificent hair – entirely brown and bouncy.
    — Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 3 July 2022
  • To many of those inside the world of mountaineering, though, Nims Purja is a climber in every sense of the word — as much a showboat and a hustle-minded careerist as a talented alpinist.
    — Peter Rubin, Longreads, 25 Jan. 2023
  • There are no showboat solos, but there are plenty of piano phrases that are by turns handsome and pretty as the set becomes an entertaining celebration of a most accomplished accompanist.
    — Steven Wine, Star Tribune, 12 Aug. 2020
  • When this pretense is stylized with showboat filmmaking, whatever universal point Anderson tries to make comes off erroneously — snobbish.
    — Armond White, National Review, 5 Nov. 2021
  • Congress, in both parties, is increasingly the province of showboats who compensate for their many deficiencies through loud talk, audacious claims and, always, partisan invective.
    — Chris Stirewalt, Fox News, 11 Apr. 2018
  • Mank is no documentary but a semifactual yarn that burnishes the legend of the showboat, nasty wit, and habitual roisterer who wrote Citizen Kane.
    — Carl Rollyson, The New York Review of Books, 5 Jan. 2021
  • Trump and his supporters see Comey as a political showboat who was obstructing his presidency, while the left are starting to see Comey as a political outsider who fell victim to obstruction of justice.
    — The Tylt, AL.com, 19 May 2017
  • It's been a story of redemption for Jacobellis, who infamously won an Olympic silver in 2006 after throwing away her lead while attempting to showboat.
    — Julia Hollingsworth, CNN, 12 Feb. 2022
  • There are worries that the global money-laundering police are poised to crack down, and the experiment has so undermined confidence in its showboat president's economic program that his nation's debt is now selling for 36 cents on the dollar.
    — Shawn Tully, Fortune, 20 Jan. 2022

showboat

2 of 2 verb
  • She was showboating for the cameras when she tripped and fell.
  • Cedi Osman, bless his soul, tried to showboat on a breakaway dunk after a steal and bricked it.
    — Joe Vardon, cleveland.com, 11 Feb. 2018
  • Mr Johnson’s shambolic, showboating style is not just a way of getting his message across.
    — The Economist, 23 July 2019
  • Comedians Kinsey and Beatriz play their parts looser, like back-up singers free to showboat on the mic.
    — Amy Nicholson, chicagotribune.com, 22 Feb. 2018
  • But in and around that, Carrington caught some passes on the field, showboated often, and graduated from college.
    — John Canzano, OregonLive.com, 15 July 2017
  • Joshua looked frustrated at times, and even showboated in the seventh round by walking into Takam’s range with his arms out and head down, then shaking his head as Takam threw a punch.
    — USA TODAY, 28 Oct. 2017
  • This time Fischer held back for no one, laying on so thick an orchestral accompaniment that Thibaudet had one option only — to showboat.
    — Mark Swed, latimes.com, 26 Jan. 2018
  • Three quarters of sleepwalking, showboating and unwatchable basketball, followed by one quarter of the most intense and least-artistic basketball of the season.
    — Scott Ostler, SFChronicle.com, 16 Feb. 2020
  • Once there, apparently to maintain the suspense, the showboating raccoon began moving around the 17th floor, rather than climbing or descending farther.
    — Andrea Park, Teen Vogue, 13 June 2018
  • Olmert describes Barak as a formalistic, showboating defense minister unwilling to take a firm yes or no position on launching a bombing even while claiming credit.
    — Noga Tarnopolsky, latimes.com, 22 Mar. 2018
  • Drew prefers ’70s funk to hip-hop, drives a retro van outfitted with an 8-track tape, and enjoys lecturing showboating youngsters about the fundamental unselfishness of the game, when played well.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 29 June 2018
  • What did the six hours of Democratic hectoring, interrupting, demanding, insulting and showboating yield?
    — Karl Rove, WSJ, 13 Feb. 2019
  • There are no showboating gestures here, only a bone-deep commitment to showing us the lives of individuals often relegated to the cinematic sidelines, to the extent that the movies even notice them all.
    — Justin Chang, chicagotribune.com, 12 Sep. 2019
  • Bill Pullman is the Bilott team’s showboating West Virginia trial lawyer, who celebrates success in the courtroom by snapping his suspenders with satisfaction.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 22 Nov. 2019
  • Fingers a-flutter, Marsalis confidently flew through composer Jacques Ibert’s flamboyant solo section — making sure his virtuosity was that of musicianship, not showboating.
    — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 29 Sep. 2019
  • This showboating behavior is irresponsible, reckless, & potentially dangerous.
    — Fox News, 10 Apr. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'showboat.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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