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Synonyms

tacky

1 American  
[tak-ee] / ˈtæk i /

adjective

tackier, tackiest

  1. sticky to the touch; adhesive.

tacky 2 American  
[tak-ee] / ˈtæk i /

adjective

tackier, tackiest

  1. not tasteful or fashionable; dowdy.

  2. shabby in appearance; shoddy.

    a tacky, jerry-built housing development.

  3. crass; cheaply vulgar; tasteless; crude.

  4. gaudy; flashy; showy.

tacky 1 British  
/ ˈtækɪ /

adjective

  1. shabby or shoddy

  2. ostentatious and vulgar

  3. (of a person) dowdy; seedy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
tacky 2 British  
/ ˈtækɪ /

adjective

  1. slightly sticky or adhesive

    the varnish was still tacky
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • tackily adverb
  • tackiness noun

Etymology

Origin of tacky1

First recorded in 1780–90; tack 1 + -y 1

Origin of tacky2

1880–85, apparently identical with earlier tack(e)y small horse, pony, poor farmer; of obscure origin

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.

Some fashion cognoscenti questioned the blue lenses, saying the choice was garish and tacky.

From The Wall Street Journal

The smartphone, long considered the preserve of the youth, was suddenly recast as a tacky trademark of Young 40s.

From BBC

“Jimmy couldn’t stand them. He thought they looked tacky.”

From The Wall Street Journal

A little voice pipes up with questions: Is this tacky?

From Salon

Some people might see her decorations as "tacky", but Felicity says that "for me, all of those colours bring me calm".

From BBC

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.