show
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
baseball
business
card-games
games
government
hobbies
lifestyle
medicine
military
mining
motor-racing
politics
racing
sciences
sports
war
Etymology: 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).
Inflected forms:
form: shows
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: showing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: showed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: shew
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
form: shown
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: showed
pos: verb
tags: US
participle
past
rare
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: show
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: show
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: showed
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: show
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: showest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: showed
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: showedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: shows
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: showeth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: showed
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: show
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: showed
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: show
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: showed
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: show
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: showing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: shown
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: shew
pos: verb
tags: alternative
archaic
form: shewe
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: showe
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: shows
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: shew
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
form: shewe
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: showe
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: To display, to have somebody see (something).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.
gloss: To bestow; to confer.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to show mercy; to show favour
(dialectal) show me the salt please
gloss: To indicate (a fact) to be true; to demonstrate.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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 that the capitalist system as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere is manifestly unfair.
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.
gloss: To guide or escort.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Could you please show him on his way. He has overstayed his welcome.
Who can show me to office? -I'll show in.
gloss: To be visible; to be seen; to appear.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Your bald patch is starting to show.
At length, his gloom showed.
Just such she shows before a rising storm.
All round a hedge upshoots, and shows / At distance like a little wood.
'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.
gloss: To appear, look (a certain way)
pos: verb
tags: archaic
copulative
intransitive
examples: […] until the grey wintry dawn paled them, and the chill earth showed ghostly and desolate in the cold light.
The exposed dura showed healthy and was left undisturbed.
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 breathed in gasps.
gloss: To put in an appearance; show up.
pos: verb
tags: informal
intransitive
examples: We waited for an hour, but they never showed.
gloss: To have an enlarged belly and thus be recognizable as pregnant.
pos: verb
tags: informal
intransitive
examples: 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?"
"My friend is due 2 weeks after me and she has this cute bump. I’m barely showing! Could something be wrong?
gloss: To finish third, especially of horses or dogs.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: In the third race: Aces Up won, paying eight dollars; Blarney Stone placed, paying three dollars; and Cinnamon showed, paying five dollars.
gloss: To reveal one's hand of cards.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: He called instantly but was too ashamed to show until the river.
gloss: To have a certain appearance, such as well or ill, fit or unfit; to become or suit; to appear.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
examples: My lord of York, it better showed with you.
gloss: A play, dance, or other entertainment.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: 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 Nature and service and land knows what all.
gloss: An exhibition of items.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: 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.
gloss: A broadcast program, especially a light entertainment program.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: radio show;  television show
They performed in the show.
I spotted my neighbour on the morning TV show.
Every day I do my morning show.
gloss: A movie.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Let's catch a show.
gloss: An agricultural exhibition.
pos: noun
tags: Australia
New-Zealand
countable
examples: 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
gloss: A project or presentation.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
It was Apple's usual dog and pony show.
gloss: A demonstration.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: show of force
gloss: Mere display or pomp with no substance. (Usually seen in the phrases "all show" and "for show".)
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: I envy none their pageantry and show.
The dog sounds ferocious but it's all show.
gloss: Outward appearance; wileful or deceptive appearance.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: So may the outward shows be least themselves:
The world is still deceived with ornament.
gloss: The major leagues.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
with-definite-article
examples: He played AA ball for years, but never made it to the show.
gloss: A pale blue flame at the top of a candle flame, indicating the presence of firedamp.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
gloss: Pretence.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
uncountable
gloss: Sign, token, or indication.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
uncountable
gloss: Semblance; likeness; appearance.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: Beware of the scribes,[…]which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers.
He through the midst unmarked,
 In show plebeian angel militant
 Of lowest order, passed.
gloss: Plausibility.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
gloss: A discharge, from the vagina, of mucus streaked with blood, occurring a short time before labor.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A battle; local conflict.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
uncountable
examples: A subaltern, wearing a glengarry, came out of a house, playing with the nose of a shell. He walked a little way with me.
“Going into the show?”
gloss: A circular impression on sand, indicating the presence of a clam by its siphon.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Iron Springs offers a guided clam dig for first timers or those who are rusty at spotting the clam's show at low tide. It includes a license and all the equipment you'll need to catch your limit on Copalis Beach […]
Synonyms: big leagues
Antonyms: conceal
cover up
hide
disprove
refute
Related words: showcase
showdown
showman
showpiece
show-stopper
show-stopping
Derived words: 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
show forth
show half ball
show in
show off
show one's age
show one's ass
show one's butt
show one's cards
show one's claws
show oneself
show one's face
show one's hand
show one's stripes
show one's stuff
show one's teeth
show one's true colors
show one's true colours
show one's true stripes
show one's work
show out
show round
show shapes
show skin
show somebody the door
show someone a good time
show someone a thing or two
show someone one's etchings
show someone the door
show someone the ropes
show some skin
show the cloven foot
show the cloven hoof
show the flag
show the ropes
show the way
show the white feather
show the white flag
show-through
show up
show what one is made of
show who's boss
show who's the boss
Translations: