Cartoonish means exaggerated or simplified in a way that reminds you of cartoons. When something is cartoonish, it has been stretched, amplified, or distorted beyond what's realistic, just like how cartoon characters have enormous eyes, impossibly stretchy bodies, or reactions that are way over the top.

A villain in a story might be so obviously evil, twirling his mustache and cackling wickedly, that he seems cartoonish rather than frightening. A person's angry reaction might be so extreme, with wild gestures and bulging eyes, that it strikes others as cartoonish. Sometimes artists deliberately use cartoonish styles to make their work playful and fun, like the exaggerated proportions in animated movies.

The word often carries a gentle criticism: calling something cartoonish suggests it lacks depth or subtlety. A cartoonish character in a book might be one-dimensional, always acting exactly the same way without any complexity. But cartoonish isn't always negative. Animation studios create deliberately cartoonish characters that are expressive, memorable, and emotionally powerful precisely because their exaggerated features help communicate feelings instantly.