✨ Shiny surface 💅 Superficially attractive 📰 A shiny magazine 📸 A shiny photo

glossy

2 3.8

A photograph printed on smooth shiny paper that makes colors bright

noun
/ˈɡlɑːsi/

: fotografía brillante

Inside the envelope, he found Carlo's photos of Angela, 8 by 10 black and white glossies.
glossy photo
8x10 glossy
black-and-white glossies

Examples

And you'll be pleased to know that your eight-by-ten glossy is now on display at the local playhouse.

Fiction book (1994)
Make sure that these are all eight by 10 glossies.

Turner & Hooch (1989)
We'll get some glossies taken.

Showgirls (1995)
Let's just say... that I need another 8x10 glossy for my collection.

Maniac Cop 2 (1990)
Yeah, I'm looking at your eight-by-ten glossy taped to the seat here.

Skip Tracer (1977)
How about an 8-by-10 glossy of Sammy Davis, Jr. hugging Nixon?

Hustle (1975)
Ed opens his valise and whips out an 8x10 glossy of Bela.

Fiction book (1994)
Danny, the more congenial of the two brothers, gave me my pick of the 8 x 10 glossies of the great fighters of the day that he kept in a file cabinet in his office and would introduce me to some of the boxers as the next lightweight champion.

Academic text (2009)
Scattered among the pressing and curling tools in the case were photographs, eight-by-ten glossies, of the glamorous black women of the forties and fifties.

Fiction book (1993)
She added several 8x10 glossies of her favorite celebrities to her scrapbook.

Antonyms

dull

31 1.0

Not bright or shiny with weak colour

matte

2 3.5

Not shiny and showing little reflection

Compounds

glossy magazine

3 3.2

A thin printed book that has shiny pages and many photos

glossy snake

9.7

A snake active at night that burrows in sandy soil and has shiny tan scales

glossy-coated

4.5

Having shiny, smooth fur or hair that looks healthy

glossy-furred

4.3

Having shiny, smooth fur that shines in the light

glossy-haired

4.6

Having smooth, shiny hair that reflects light

How Shiny

lustrous

9 5.3

glossy

2 3.8

satin

3 2.7

matte

2 3.5

Surface Forms

glossy singular

glossies plural

Morphology

glossy = glossy (semi-transparent) = gloss + y

This noun use is a converted nominal use of the adjective 'glossy'; the shiny-paper meaning is clear, but the photo referent is an ellipted, specialized noun use.

Etymology

Glossy comes from the older word gloss, which means 'shine' or a smooth, bright surface. A glossy photo is simply a picture printed on shiny paper, so the name points to its shiny finish.