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:
As well as raising unfounded doubts about the bump, some people criticised the star's overall look on social media, calling it "ridiculous", "tacky" and "bizarre".
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
The tourism board should study how Wain sells a tacky California vacation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 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
As for the tchotchkes, they ran the gamut from tacky souvenir to sentimental heirloom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
We go to family parties not to bask in each other's presence but to whisper among ourselves about tacky dresses, botched plastic surgery, and disastrous haircuts and highlights.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
It starts with holiday merch, the tackier the better.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
MLB is moving toward a new rub for baseballs that will lead to tackier surfaces, which many pitchers have sought, especially the crackdown on unauthorized substances began June 21.
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
They’re quite different from Sony’s past foam tips, now with a thicker design that’s less rounded and with a tackier feel that helps them stay planted in your ears.
From The Verge ● Jun. 8, 2021
But I was the best tackier, and I was determined to get there first.
From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman
Why should the best show people somehow keep making the dullest, tackiest hodgepodge of a show?
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2021
On Today, Manigault Newman interrupted host Savannah Guthrie several times to plug Unhinged in the tackiest possible way, once accusing Guthrie of not reading the book closely enough.
From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2018
As the name suggests, guests are invited to wear the ugliest, tackiest holiday gear they can find.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2017
The set of “Bennie’s Gym” is the world’s tackiest and saddest fitness center.
From Washington Post ● May 30, 2016
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
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
