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

But her flat intonation and vocal fry are perfectly suited to Marvel’s campy critical misfire, playing a demure yet powerful teenager who’s taken under the wing of Dakota Johnson’s equally spacey Cassie. —Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 14 Aug. 2025

The stories about what transpired there have been twisted into a campy local legend, inspiring the town's first ever Fazfest. —Allison Degrushe Published, EW.com, 25 July 2025

The stories about what transpired there have been twisted into a campy local legend, inspiring the town’s first ever Fazfest. —Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 24 July 2025

At the time, the project was perceived by some as a bit risky, given waning Hollywood interest in the genre after 1997's disastrously campy Batman and Robin. —ArsTechnica, 20 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

camp entry 3 + -y entry 1

First Known Use

1932, in the meaning defined above