exhibitionist

American  

[ek-suh-bish-uh-nist] / ˌɛk səˈbɪʃ ə nɪst /

noun

1. a person who behaves in ways intended to attract attention or display their powers, personality, etc.

2. Psychiatry. a person with the compulsions of exhibitionism.

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Usage

What does exhibitionist mean? In psychiatry, an exhibitionist is someone who has a compulsion to exhibit, or display, their genitals in public. Exhibitionist can also be used in nonclinical, everyday speech to refer to a show-off or a person who overshares. A popular slang term for exhibitionist is flasher, but keep in mind that a person diagnosed as an exhibitionist has a clinical disorder. Example: She called him an exhibitionist for his tendency to share too much personal information at parties.

Other Word Forms

• exhibitionistic adjective
• exhibitionistically adverb
• nonexhibitionistic adjective
• semiexhibitionist noun

Etymology

Origin of exhibitionist

First recorded in 1815–25; exhibition + -ist

Explanation

An exhibitionist is a person who thrives on getting a lot of attention. If your best friend is an exhibitionist, you're probably used to him suddenly bursting loudly into song in public places. Exhibitionist is a fancy word for "show-off." If you're an exhibitionist, you crave the kind of reaction you get from being the center of attention. In some cases, an exhibitionist gets that attention by taking his or her clothes off in public — a streaker or flasher is also an exhibitionist. The word comes from the Old French exibicion, "show or display," from the Latin exhibere, "to show or present."

Example Sentences

The role suited Reid Banks' exhibitionist nature - but being "booted off" to the job of backroom scriptwriter did not.

From BBC • Apr. 5, 2024

We live in such a voyeuristic, exhibitionist era that if you are not revealing some of yourself, you're not going to develop a relationship with the audience.

From Salon • Jul. 26, 2023

Only an exhibitionist would want to live in constant public view, although there do seem to be a lot of those around.

From Washington Post • Mar. 28, 2023

“At my core, I’m an exhibitionist and the idea of entertaining people, of communicating authentically is really what I’m all about.”

From Seattle Times • Feb. 4, 2022

From tiny facts or rumors of facts about this exhibitionist god on canvas, the populace who were bereft of significant involvements could gossip about him to make friends with others equally bereft.

From An Apostate: Nawin of Thais by Sills, Steven (Steven David Justin)