How to Use hammy in a Sentence
hammy
adjective-
Now, as my hammy words hang in the air, a silence stretches out.
—WIRED, 2 Sep. 2022
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The result is moving, but just a little hammy.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 14 Nov. 2025
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Toasty, cheesy, hammy—they're a true Southern delight.
—Josh Miller, Southern Living, 18 Apr. 2026
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Yes, the natural charisma is there, but gone are the hammy flourishes and over-the-top gags.
—Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 10 Nov. 2025
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Keep those rosary beads handy whenever Aaron Gordon grabs his hammy.
—Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 17 Apr. 2026
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Both bring some life to what could be a hammy parody and rote exercise in nostalgia.
—Matthew Love, Vulture, 28 Mar. 2021
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Rhett himself is a fine showman, adept at engaging a crowd without going too hammy.
—Joey Guerra, Houston Chronicle, 7 Mar. 2018
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But this hammy quality both mirrors and captures the world Spree skewers.
—Kate Knibbs, Wired, 12 Aug. 2020
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The violence mostly appears off-camera, but there’s a lot of hammy screaming.
—oregonlive, 18 May 2021
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Expressionless, Flagg pushes aside the hammy joke and pulls out a chair to sit at a nearby table.
—Brendan Quinn, The Athletic, 11 Feb. 2025
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The hammy bops that propelled the group to fame are on the way out, but Veronica is unaware and undaunted.
—Chloe Schama, Vogue, 3 Sep. 2024
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For his hammy performance, Quaid is rewarded by being drenched in a shower of tiger urine.
—Nick Schager, Variety, 20 Jan. 2022
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That doesn’t apply to Branagh, who has always been a perfect fit for the hammy character of Poirot.
—Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Sep. 2023
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Though his jokes could be hammy, Corden made some magical TV moments.
—Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 27 Apr. 2023
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Conversely, the hammy what-do-Black-people-do conversations are part of the show’s charm.
—The New Yorker, 22 Nov. 2021
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But what is ultimately to be gained by making this a hammy, Neil Simon-esque romp?
—Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 31 Mar. 2026
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Even this early in the genre, exhausted tropes and hammy dialogue are mercilessly poked.
—Gem Seddon, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2021
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From that point on, Richie settled into a groove of singing one of his many hits and then engaging in hammy patter that felt as canned as Spam.
—Ross Raihala, Twin Cities, 30 Aug. 2019
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That was an example of the tighter control, the lack of hammy applause lines and the focusing of the message that made the convention a success.
—Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 22 Aug. 2020
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Grant, meanwhile, gets to tap once more into the hammy villainy that made Paddington 2 the internet's favorite movie.
—Christian Holub, EW.com, 29 Mar. 2023
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Daniels is morose and whiny and Reynolds is hammy and over-the-top, which allows Stone to steal the movie, giving it its only modicum of zest and soul.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 23 July 2025
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More emotional scenes, however, feel hammy and didactic, heavy on the telling over the showing (and that telling hinges on being damn blunt about the whole thing, to boot).
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 19 Feb. 2025
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Kuntzman, a hammy fifty-seven-year-old with a short beard, whipped out his pen and his phone to record himself coloring it in, using the plate’s embossing as a guide.
—Dan Greene, The New Yorker, 16 Jan. 2023
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Oh, not funny in that Broadway-ish way with a set-up and a punchline delivered with hammy panache, but rather naturally funny.
—Rod Stafford Hagwood, Sun Sentinel, 30 Mar. 2023
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What Cowboy Bebop is, down to its hammy cyberpunk signage and the nails of its cheap-looking sets, is a performance.
—Cecilia D'anastasio, Wired, 19 Nov. 2021
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Every actor’s Hamlet is theirs and theirs alone, and Olivier’s is big and hammy and searing and often quite devastating.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 3 Mar. 2025
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For most of the show, Bad Bunny had been mugging merrily to the camera, flaring his eyes and making hammy gestures to illustrate his words.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 9 Feb. 2026
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John, 75, was delightfully hammy between songs, popping up from his piano bench to point and grin at the crowd while mouthing thanks and leading a concert that felt brisk, but never rote.
—Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY, 16 July 2022
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Grisham had been one of the Yankees’ hottest hitters before hurting his hammy running the bases in Toronto on June 12.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 27 June 2026
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Cage's reliably hammy take on Drac is the big hook of Renfield—and indeed the best reason, maybe the only one, to see this unsavory cocktail of genres.
—A.a. Dowd, Chron, 12 Apr. 2023
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hammy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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