show

A play, dance, or other entertainment.

Noun

  1. A play, dance, or other entertainment.
    • There were a thousand people at the show.
    • Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and...
  2. An exhibition of items.
    • art show; dog show
    • Represented by Olney Gleason gallery, she was the subject of a 2025 solo show at the MSU Broad Art Museum in Michigan and recently unveiled a permanent installation at the Princeton University Art Museum. - 2026 May 5,...
  3. A broadcast program, especially a light entertainment program.
    • radio show; television show
    • They performed in the show.
    • I spotted my neighbour on the morning TV show.
  4. A movie.
    • Let's catch a show.
  5. An agricultural exhibition.
    • I'm taking the kids to the show on Tuesday.
    • E. C. McEnulty, who won the chop at the show on Thursday, cut through a foot lying block in 34 seconds - 1924 October 6, The Examiner, Launceston, page 2, column 6:
  6. A project or presentation.
    • Let's get on with the show.
    • Let's get this show on the road.
    • They went on an international road show to sell the shares to investors.
  7. A demonstration.
    • show of force
  8. Mere display or pomp with no substance. (Usually seen in the phrases "all show" and "for show".)
    • I envy none their pageantry and show. - 1725–1728, [Edward Young], “(please specify the page)”, in Love of Fame, the Universal Passion. In Seven Characteristical Satires, 4th edition, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard]...
    • The dog sounds ferocious but it's all show.
  9. Outward appearance; wileful or deceptive appearance.
    • So may the outward shows be least themselves: The world is still deceived with ornament. - c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...
  10. The major leagues.
    • He played AA ball for years, but never made it to the show.
  11. A pale blue flame at the top of a candle flame, indicating the presence of firedamp.
  12. Pretence.

Origin

From Middle English schewe, from the verb (schewen).

Forms

shows shew shewe showe

Synonyms

exhibition exposition demonstration illustration proof program(me) façade front superficiality big leagues

Related

showman showpiece show-stopper show-stopping

Derived

aftershow after the Lord Mayor's show air show all over the show all show and no go aquashow auto show bad show bench show big show bloody show boat show bottle show call-in show car show chat show cinema show clip show clown show cooking show crapshow dog-and-pony show dog show donkey show

Noun Entry 2

  1. Synonym of shive (“wood fragment of the husk of flax or hemp”).
    • When the flax is ſufficiently watered, it feels ſoft to the grip, and the harle parts eaſily with the boon or ſhow, which laſt is then become brittle, and looks whitiſh. - 1765, “Directions for raising Flax”, in Museum...
    • Laſt year (1793) I tranſplanted, from ſeed-beds, into the nurſery, ſeveral fruit-trees; the ground around ſome of which I covered, as above, with flax-ſhows. Notwithſtanding the great heat of the ſummer, none of thoſe...
    • Old houses in the north-east sometimes have a thick layer of flax waste or “shows” under the thatch. - 1942 March, E[myr] Estyn Evans, Irish Heritage: The Landscape, the People and Their Work, Dundalk, County Louth:...

    Synonyms: shive

Origin

Variant of shove, itself a variant of shive.

Forms

shows shew shewe showe

Verb

  1. To display, to have somebody see (something).
    • The car's dull finish showed years of neglect.
    • All he had to show for four years of attendance at college was a framed piece of paper.
    • I do some sculpturing, but I don't like to show anybody.
  2. To bestow; to confer.
    • to show mercy; to show favour
    • (dialectal) show me the salt please
  3. To indicate (a fact) to be true; to demonstrate.
    • He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record. With this biological framework in place, Corning endeavors to show...
    • 2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns A report this year in the Journal of Geophysical Research showed that the glacier has lost 60 percent of its mass.
  4. To guide or escort.
    • Could you please show him on his way. He has overstayed his welcome.
    • Who can show me to office? -I'll show in.
  5. To be visible; to be seen; to appear.
    • Your bald patch is starting to show.
    • At length, his gloom showed.
    • Just such she shows before a rising storm. - 1690, [John] Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):
  6. To appear, look (a certain way)
    • […] until the grey wintry dawn paled them, and the chill earth showed ghostly and desolate in the cold light. - 1891, Maxwell Grey, In The Heart Of The Storm, volume 1:
    • The exposed dura showed healthy and was left undisturbed. - 1905, R. Johnson Held, S. J. Kopetzky, “Report of a Case of Purulent Meningitis Following Radical Mastoid Operation—Recovery after Operative Interference”, in...
    • He blinked with his eyes, and the damp dripped from his face, which showed haggard and drawn; but Appleby, who wondered if his own wore that look, surmised that this was not due to cowardice, and understood why the man...
  7. To put in an appearance; show up.
    • We waited for an hour, but they never showed.
  8. To have an enlarged belly and thus be recognizable as pregnant.
    • Jessica: "So, um, do you think Bella's gonna be showing?" Angela: "Jess, she's not pregnant." Jessica: "Okay. Who else gets married at eighteen?" - 2011, Bill Condon, director, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1:
    • "My friend is due 2 weeks after me and she has this cute bump. I’m barely showing! Could something be wrong? - 2012, Carley Roney, The Baby Bump: 100s of Secrets to Surviving Those 9 Long Months, Chronicle Books, page...
  9. To finish third, especially of horses or dogs.
    • In the third race: Aces Up won, paying eight dollars; Blarney Stone placed, paying three dollars; and Cinnamon showed, paying five dollars.
  10. To reveal one's hand of cards.
    • He called instantly but was too ashamed to show until the river. - 2017, Nathan Schwiethale, Ace High: Mastering Low Stakes Poker Cash Games, page 70:
  11. To have a certain appearance, such as well or ill, fit or unfit; to become or suit; to appear.
    • My lord of York, it better showed with you. - c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...

Origin

From Middle English schewen, from Old English scēawian (“to look, look at, exhibit, display”), from Proto-West Germanic *skauwōn, from Proto-Germanic *skawwōną (“to look, see”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewh₁- (“to heed, look, feel, take note of”); see haw, gaum, caveat, caution. Cognate with Scots shaw (“to show”), Dutch schouwen (“to inspect, view”), German schauen (“to see, behold”), Danish skue (“to behold”). Related to sheen. Wider cognates include Ancient Greek κῦδος (kûdos), Latin caveō whence English caution and caveat, Sanskrit कवि (kaví, “seer, prophet, bard”), Proto-Slavic *čuti (whence Russian чу́ять (čújatʹ) and many more).

Forms

shows showing showed shew shown no-table-tags glossary show showest showedst showeth - shewe showe

Synonyms

display exhibit flaunt indicate parade point out reveal rub one's nose in show off visiblize demonstrate prove arrive show up

Antonyms

conceal cover up hide disprove refute

Related

showcase showdown

Derived

foreshow forthshow go to show have something to show for something outshow overshow preshow reshow showability showable show a clean pair of heels show a leg show a little ginger show and share show and tell show ankle show around show away show colour show don't tell show down showee shower show-er