ham it up
Chew the scenery
Ham it up means to exaggerate one's performance, gestures, or emotions for dramatic effect: The kids hammed it up for the camera.
The phrase suggests theatrical overacting—broad expressions, exaggerated movements, playing to the crowd.
Someone who hams it up is being a ham, an actor who overdoes it.
- overactPerform with excess
- grandstandingPerforming to impress onlookers
- dramatizeDepict with heightened emotion
- playactPerform insincerely or theatrically
- emoteExpress with theatricality
play to the gallery · clowning · overplay · milking · campy · roleplay · scenery-chewing · chew up the scenery · mug · steal the scene · theatricalize · enact · perform · put on a show · work the crowd · burlesque · peacock · chew the scenery
- food idiomspiece of cake, bread winner, low-hanging fruit, cool as a cucumber, bad egg
- lay it on thickexaggerate, overstate, embellish, overact, dramatize
- theaterplays, stage, play, onstage, acting
- exaggerationhyperbole, overstatement, exaggeration, magnification, amplification
- pretendingpretend, pretending, fake, feign, make-believe
- showing offboasting, bragged, show off, bragging, boasted
theatrical intensity
ham it upunderplay
Minimize emphasis or expression
underact · tone it down · downplay · dial it back · play it straight