glossy

comparative glossier · superlative glossiest

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

   glossy hair

   2 more examples

   glossy magazine

   He was in the middle of a blue world. As far as the eye could see, a sheet of water reached into the distance. The May sun shimmered on its surface. Above, high above, stretched a clear blue sky. The fresh, new sky looked so glossy and vivid that it might spill down to earth at any moment.

   2002, KID, “Prologue”, in Ever 17: The Out of Infinity

   Synonyms: lacquerlike, satiny, sleek · Antonyms: flat, matte

2. figurativelyAttention-grabbing and superficially attractive.

   The trendy rehabs being pimped by the addiction industry's glossy PR.

   1990 February 4, Leonard Tirado, “Privatized 'Recovery' Versus Collective Action”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 19

   1 more example

   This divisive populist electro may never shake its myriad detractors who cry foul about the glossy repackaging of the scene it’s largely indebted to, but it’s wrong to dismiss such meticulously crafted production because of its accessibility.

   2015 December 25, “20 Best Albums of 2015”, in Genius

   Synonyms: eye-catching, flashy, prominent, attention-grabbing, conspicuous, eye-catching, flashy, grabby

plural glossies

1. UKinformalA glossy magazine.

   The supermarket glossies are full of celebrity gossip and fad diets.

2. informalA glossy photograph.

   Black and white 8- × 10-inch glossies are best, but 5- × 7-inch is okay too. Place photos on top of cardboard when mailing. Don't tape or paper-clip because doing so can ruin the photo.

   2013, Stacy Zemon, The DJ Sales and Marketing Handbook

   1 more example

   His roster of patients was drawn almost exclusively from among what he liked to call creative people, chiefly writers and painters and composers, and he talked about them so freely that I sometimes half expected him to put up autographed glossies around the office, like the ones on the wall at the Stage Deli.

   1998 August 17, Adam Gopnik, “Man Goes To See a Doctor”, in The New Yorker

3. informalbroadcastingA film depicting people with glamorous lifestyles.

   […] the first home-made guide to TV films by which is meant old films shown on the box, not those new Hollywood glossies made specially for it (though a guide there too would soon be welcome).

   1973, Films and Filming, volume 20, page 10

   1 more example

   Anna Magnani has been making Hollywood glossies recently, so it was good to see her back again in a native Italian production, The Last Temptation, in which with great artistry and all her usual power she played a Nun who finds a woman's and even a mother's heart beating strongly beneath her 'sister's' habit.

   1959, Film Review, page 102