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ticky-tacky

American  
[tik-ee-tak-ee] / ˈtɪk iˌtæk i /
Sometimes ticky-tack

adjective

  1. shoddy and unimaginatively designed; flimsy and dull.

    a row of new, ticky-tacky bungalows.

  2. tacky.

noun

  1. ticky-tacky material or something made of it, especially housing.

Etymology

Origin of ticky-tacky

First recorded in 1960–65; gradational compound based on tacky 2

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.