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Glite Dictionary
👀 Exclamation to notice 👀 Inviting to look 🎪 A spectacle
looky

looky

1 9.9
A person or thing that attracts attention because it is unusual
  • noun
  • /ˈlʊki/
  • Informal
translation icon : atracción (cosa)
  • The strange contraption in the park drew a lot of looky-loos, all eager to find out what it was.
  • looky-loo

Examples

  • The crowd gathered to see the unusual float in the parade, each person a curious looky-loo.

  • Keep the looky-loos out of the crime scene.

    Marked for Death (1990)

  • Might just be a looky-loo.

    Spy (2015)

  • I’ll screen out the Looky-Lous.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • During the incident, many looky-loos stopped to watch the firefighters handle the situation.

Synonyms

looker
vslooky
8 3.8

A person who watches or looks at something, for example at a museum

is used for spectacle or curiosity rather than the observer role
head-turner
vslooky
  • Informal
2 5.6

A person or thing that looks very attractive and makes people turn to look

is more about being a curious spectacle than pure physical attractiveness
eye-catcher
vslooky
1 4.1

A person or thing that is easy to notice and attracts attention

is informal and attracts attention mainly as a spectacle or curiosity

How Noticeable

spectacle
68 4.2
looky
  • Informal
1 9.9
curiosity
27 5.0
novelty
47 4.7
ordinary
683 1.0

Surface Forms

looky singular
lookies plural

Morphology

looky = look (transparent) = look + y

Derived from 'look' with '-y' giving a nominal sense 'one/thing that attracts a look', which is a straightforward extension of the base.

Etymology

Looky comes from look plus the ending -y, and it means 'something to look at'. So a bright car or a strange show can be called a looky because it draws people's eyes.