campy

adjective

ˈkam-pē 

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

He could modify his outbursts into what were sometimes hilariously campy performances.

—Robert Gray

campily

ˈkam-pə-lē 

adverb

The new film promises to be as campily outrageous as its predecessors.

—John Stark

… the Addams Family, the campily macabre clan created by the late cartoonist Charles Addams …

—Margot Dougherty

campiness

ˈkam-pē-nəs 

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

… a power-mad despot, played with exhilarating campiness by John Malkovich.

—Steven Rebello

Examples of campy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The vampire saved the show from imminent cancelation, prompting a spike in ratings and a new direction away from a moody Jane Eyre-like gothic romance style to outright supernatural (if unintentionally campy) horror. — Greg Evans, Deadline, 18 July 2026

The actor has a great sense of humor about his one-off performance as the Caped Crusader in Batman & Robin, a notorious flop that has since become something of a campy millennial touchstone. — Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 16 July 2026

Snow sings about getting her princess groove back, butts heads with her Evil Queen stepmother (a campy Gal Gadot) and gets a little help from her short new friends. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 10 July 2026

These platform sandals are campy, retro, bubblegum-scented, and chicly befitting to any look, even elevating a simple jean or skirt. — Alexandra Pereira, Travel + Leisure, 10 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

camp entry 3 + -y entry 1

First Known Use

1932, in the meaning defined above