sticky
Americanadjective
-
stickier,
comparative
-
stickiest
superlative
-
having the property of adhering, as glue; adhesive.
-
covered with adhesive or viscid matter.
sticky hands.
-
(of the weather or climate) hot and humid.
It was an unbearably sticky day.
-
requiring careful treatment; awkwardly difficult.
a rather sticky diplomatic problem; Breaking the news is going to be sticky.
-
Informal. unpleasant; unfortunate; nasty.
The villain of the story meets a sticky end.
noun
-
stickies
plural
adjective
-
covered or daubed with an adhesive or viscous substance
sticky fingers
-
having the property of sticking to a surface
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(of weather or atmosphere) warm and humid; muggy
-
(of prices) tending not to fall in deflationary conditions
-
informal difficult, awkward, or painful
a sticky business
-
informal sentimental
-
(of a website) encouraging users to visit repeatedly
verb
noun
-
short for stickybeak
-
an inquisitive look or stare (esp in the phrase have a sticky at )
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of sticky
1720–30; 1910–15 sticky for def. 4; stick 2 + -y 1
Explanation
Things that easily adhere to other things are sticky. Glue and tape are sticky. So is a wad of chewed gum — especially when you step in it. Yuck. Many things are meant to be sticky, like the sticky notes you use for bookmarks or the sticky lint roller you use to remove cat hair from your pants. You can also describe hot, humid weather as sticky, or an awkward problem you can't easily shake: "They brought up a number of sticky issues in the meeting this morning." If someone has "sticky fingers," it means they're inclined to steal things.
Vocabulary lists containing sticky
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
SYDNEY—Australia’s economy was stronger than expected in the second quarter, stoking the case for the Reserve Bank of Australia to raise interest rates further amid sticky inflation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Whether it be breakfast bacon from local purveyors like Barossa Fine Foods in South Australia’s Barossa Valley or a sticky date pudding with a side of Indigenous wattleseed ice cream.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
“Even if it’s a couple degrees cooler ... with the humidity, it’s really going to be pretty sticky and uncomfortable,” Ciliberti said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
Using sticky notes, booksellers had shared reflections on books they had read or highlighted passages they found particularly meaningful.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
The children were now quite sticky from all their experimenting and needed a good hand and face washing, so they had all taken a brief detour to the nearest washroom.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
Even more than sparkling wines, stickies are for special occasions.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 9, 2021
Transfers like this should be simple, but this fat document with little stickies pointing to places that required details and signatures was proof it wasn’t.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 17, 2021
The track-prepared M40i’s were equipped with the optional electromechanically locking rear differential and shod with 20-inch summer stickies, so they were getting around pretty well.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2018
But what was there, in those dozens of stickies, was so captivating that Mr. Patel knew he had to have the role.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2016
As you can imagine, over the years I’ve had my share of notebooks, stickies, legal pads and the like.
From Forbes ● Jun. 27, 2013
He said stickier institutional investors account for around 80% of assets, when breaking those down by types of investors who pay Partners Group to manage money.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
But the musical’s tangled narrative web has been a stickier challenge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
If countries don’t remedy the issues, the administration can impose tariffs, which analysts see as stickier than levies using other trade authorities.
From Barron's ● Apr. 16, 2026
In July 2022, when data showed that the consumer-price index’s annual headline rate jumped to 9.1% for the previous month, he warned that “inflation is going to be stickier than most people imagine.”
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026
But it becomes easy to understand how you would make a children’s show even stickier than Sesame Street.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
It was the mandatory element that became the magnet for the stickiest criticisms.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2026
“To think that Google would somehow displace the most complete end-to-end solution in the marketplace with the strongest and stickiest agent product suite seems rather far-fetched,” Benchmark’s Kurnos wrote.
From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026
Fesenko, the analyst, said Zelensky’s method of pressing partners on specifics, including about the mechanics of the implementation of the stickiest points, has allowed him to continue constructive conversations without folding on key issues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025
The stickiest protest songs have hooks and refrains that concisely summarize the stakes.
From Salon ● May 8, 2024
Of all the sticky things that had come out of that doll’s mouth, that may have been the stickiest.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
