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

Opening on Thursday, April 23 at Studio 54 in New York City, this starry production leans fully into the show's campy pleasures, delivering plenty of laughs, strong performances and visual flair. —Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 24 Apr. 2026

Instead, this campy and melodramatic action flick from 1993 mutated into an immersive research experience for me that was firmly anchored in the global pop culture of the time. —Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 24 Apr. 2026

The half-dozen screens punctuating the show with this gesture offer potent and campy but all-too-serious reminders that anger and nostalgia for a world of white supremacy are not dead. —Horace D. Ballard, Artforum, 22 Apr. 2026

The director notes that Houghton loves Jennifer’s Body (Body screenwriter Diablo Cody later boarded as producer their new movie), and both yearned to create something campy. —Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 7 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

camp entry 3 + -y entry 1

First Known Use

1932, in the meaning defined above