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

Nothing screams summer like a big, boisterous, campy musical. —Sheldon Pearce, New Yorker, 12 June 2026

Bleecker Street’s campy comedy Stop! —Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 12 June 2026

That charming and shaggy approach is fitting for such a campy and irreverent comedy, ultimately substituting polish for an equal mixture of artistic grit and careless joy. —Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 12 June 2026

The theater is known for goofy, campy, original musical theater shows that riotously riff on fairy tales, folklore, TV shows and other familiar cultural tropes. —Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 8 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

camp entry 3 + -y entry 1

First Known Use

1932, in the meaning defined above