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
- tackily adverb
- tackiness noun
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.
One problem, though: Untreated rubber becomes brittle when exposed to cold, and tacky and runny when hot.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026
"The wicket got really good again for batting, it was slightly tacky earlier when we bowled," said Markram.
From Barron's • Feb. 26, 2026
Chinese wellness practices, once associated with the tacky and geriatric, have suddenly found themselves in vogue, largely among Americans.
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026
The bravura production and costume design are respectively by Suzie Davies and Jacqueline Durran, both correctly tipping the outrageous into the tacky.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 11, 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
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.
