tacky

¹

[tak-ee]

adjective

tackier, tackiest 

1. sticky to the touch; adhesive.

tacky

²

[tak-ee]

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

/ ˈtækɪ /

adjective

1. shabby or shoddy

2. ostentatious and vulgar

3. (of a person) dowdy; seedy

tacky

²

/ ˈtækɪ /

adjective

1. slightly sticky or adhesive

   the varnish was still tacky

Other Word Forms

• tackiness noun
• tackily adverb

Word History and Origins

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of tacky¹

C19: from dialect tacky an inferior horse, of unknown origin

Origin of tacky²

C18: from _tack ¹ (in the sense: stickiness)

Example Sentences

"It looks lovely. It's not tacky. It's in keeping with the whole street. I was really upset for her," she said.

Read more on BBC

The Plook's replacement is an "equally tacky" trophy fashioned by Kevin - an arm with a red heart jutting out of it just above the elbow.

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“When a trashy tacky reality tv criminal bulldozes the White House Rose Garden to make a patio-styled food court for himself,” one X user wrote.

Read more on Salon

Biden had the same opportunity when his administration mailed another round of checks a year later, but he decided that signing them was tacky and beneath the office of the president.

Read more on Salon

Unfortunately, the person used scissors to cut the birds’ wings out of the tacky material intended to trap rodents and pests.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• dingy 
• faded 
• gaudy 
• messy 
• run down 
• seedy 
• shabby 
• sleazy 
• threadbare 
• vulgar