tacky
1 Americanadjective
adjective
-
not tasteful or fashionable; dowdy.
-
shabby in appearance; shoddy.
a tacky, jerry-built housing development.
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crass; cheaply vulgar; tasteless; crude.
-
gaudy; flashy; showy.
adjective
-
shabby or shoddy
-
ostentatious and vulgar
-
(of a person) dowdy; seedy
adjective
Other Word Forms
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
Explanation
Things that are tacky are cheap, flashy, garish, gaudy, loud, tawdry, or trashy. Tacky clothes are a fashion nightmare, and tacky comments are embarrassing for everyone involved. If you wore a bright orange suit to school, with a neon green hat, you'd be dressing in a tacky way. Tacky clothes are usually inexpensive yet flashy and showy — obnoxious. When people make tasteless, trashy comments, it's also considered tacky. But if you're in art class and someone says that your paper-mâché project is tacky, don't get mad — they probably just mean that it's not dry yet and still sticky to the touch.
Vocabulary lists containing tacky
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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.
Tacky mud clung to Daryl Williams’ black tennis shoes as he walked alongside a freshly dug channel on the east side of Interstate 5 south of Marysville.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 12, 2022
I'd tell her to read "Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We have to Offer" by Rax King.
From Salon • Oct. 11, 2022
“Just a stupid move. Tacky and leaving bad taste in many people’s mouths.”
From New York Times • Oct. 1, 2021
My parents and sisters have started spamming me almost daily with emails and Facebook messages linking to articles with titles like “Top 10 Tacky Wedding Behaviors” and “How to Have a Second Wedding With Class.”
From Slate • Feb. 6, 2020
Greenish and Tacky Streaks.—Occasionally one meets cases in which pale crepe exhibits streaks varying in colour from a decided green to an almost black in which the greenish tinge is scarcely perceptible.
From The Preparation of Plantation Rubber by Morgan, Sidney
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.
