tacky
1 Americanadjective
adjective
-
not tasteful or fashionable; dowdy.
-
shabby in appearance; shoddy.
a tacky, jerry-built housing development.
-
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.
See Examples For:
The trinket must be tacky, useless and tasteless, said Green.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
I’m guessing maybe that could happen again where there’s a weird, tacky AI wing that is just that kind of content, but people will still maybe be looking for well-made, handmade things.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
The 22-year-old from Fife accepts that sometimes black and white shoots can feel "pretentious and tacky", but from watching the trailer, Spider-Noir feels different.
From BBC ● May 27, 2026
Displays of it, particularly in architecture or public art, are often perceived as tacky, kitschy or, heaven forbid, nouveau riche.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
“We have survived this long without electric cool and I have no intentions of setting one of those tacky contraptions in my window.”
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
But the idea of switching to a ball with a tackier surface, like those used in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, seemed to take hold as a potential, easy-to-implement solution.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 1, 2022
“We actually have a couple of options in terms of tackier balls,” Manfred said.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 18, 2021
"We actually have a couple of options in terms of tackier balls," Manfred said.
From Fox News ● Nov. 18, 2021
Is it tackier to say something or nothing?
From Slate ● Jan. 14, 2020
Near the sidelines he planted his left leg to stiff-arm a tackier.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
It’s the most wonderful — and tackiest — night of the year at the Anthem, where members of the National Symphony Orchestra perform classic holiday melodies while wearing ugly holiday sweaters.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 23, 2021
Why should the best show people somehow keep making the dullest, tackiest hodgepodge of a show?
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2021
The New York Hymnal described the Stonewall as having a "filthy john" and "high prices" and declared it "the tackiest joint in town."
From Slate ● Dec. 7, 2017
As the name suggests, guests are invited to wear the ugliest, tackiest holiday gear they can find.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2017
So, whatever, we’d shopped for fudge, we’d looked at wind socks, and finally we went into a tourist shop and tried on the tackiest bathing suits we could find.
From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart
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.
