variants
or carney
or carnie
plural carnies or carneys
often attributive
2
: a person who works with a carnival
Examples of carny in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
And that corpse really gets around, in carny museums and in the sideshow accompanying a transcontinental race and then in a couple of schlock movies.
—
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 28 Apr. 2025
As fun as watching modern-day WWE shows is, doing a deep dive into wrestling's weird, sometimes tragic history and carny origins gives you a deeper respect for how much wrestlers and the business have evolved since the early 20th century.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2025
The carny’s clockwork arrival honored an event even kids as small as Pontiac knew.
—Carly Tagen-Dye, Peoplemag, 7 May 2024
The rock-and-roll manager proper, or improper, really begins with Elvis Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, the former carny with the omnipresent cigar, nodding, winking, and fanning his latest flame into a global conflagration.
—Andrew O’Hagan, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024
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Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 28 Apr. 2025
As fun as watching modern-day WWE shows is, doing a deep dive into wrestling's weird, sometimes tragic history and carny origins gives you a deeper respect for how much wrestlers and the business have evolved since the early 20th century.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2025
The carny’s clockwork arrival honored an event even kids as small as Pontiac knew.
—Carly Tagen-Dye, Peoplemag, 7 May 2024
The rock-and-roll manager proper, or improper, really begins with Elvis Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, the former carny with the omnipresent cigar, nodding, winking, and fanning his latest flame into a global conflagration.
—Andrew O’Hagan, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024
See All Example Sentences for carny
Cite this Entry
“Carny.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carny. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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