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glossy

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Having a smooth, silklike, reflective surface.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

glawsee

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɡlɔsi

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Having a smooth, silklike, reflective (shiny) surface.

  2. figurative

    Attention-grabbing and superficially attractive.

noun

  1. A magazine printed on good quality paper

  2. informal

    A photograph that is printed on smooth shiny paper

  3. chiefly britishinformal

    A glossy magazine.

  4. informal

    A glossy photograph.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Having a smooth, silklike, reflective (shiny) surface.

Used this way, glossy is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • calendered , rarer, so it draws attention
  • satiny , rarer, so it draws attention
  • silky , a specialist term, precise but narrower

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use glossy

  • “I love flipping through glossy magazines to see the latest fashion trends.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Photograph

glossy ibisglossy surface

Other combinations

glossy magazineglossy greenglossy hairglossy paperglossy brownglossy appearance

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • sleek

    Having an even, smooth surface.

  • bright

    Of an object, surface, etc.: reflecting much light.

  • shiny

    Having a shiny surface or coating.

  • silken

    Having a smooth, soft, or light texture.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • glossarynounDerived noun

    An alphabetical list of technical terms in some specialized field of knowledge.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • glossy snakenounCompound term

    Nocturnal burrowing snake of western United States with shiny tan scales.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

adjective

Sense: having a smooth or silklike or reflective (shiny) surface

calenderedRarebrightsleeksatinyRaresilkyTechnical

noun

Sense: magazine printed on good quality paper

slickInformal

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.