tacky

¹

[ tak-ee ]

adjective

, tack·i·er, tack·i·est.

1. sticky to the touch; adhesive.

tacky

²

[ tak-ee ]

adjective

, tack·i·er, tack·i·est.

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. slightly sticky or adhesive

   the varnish was still tacky

tacky

²

/ ˈtækɪ /

adjective

1. shabby or shoddy
2. ostentatious and vulgar
3. (of a person) dowdy; seedy

Derived Forms

• ˈtackily, adverb
• ˈtackiness, noun
• ˈtackiness, noun

Other Words From

• tacki·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of tacky¹

First recorded in 1780–90; tack ¹ + -y ¹

Origin of tacky²

1880–85, Americanism; apparently identical with earlier tack(e)y small horse, pony, poor farmer; of obscure origin

Word History and Origins

Origin of tacky¹

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

Origin of tacky²

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

Example Sentences

Then, the public treated the relationship as tacky, embarrassing, tarnishing both their images.

From Vox

For most outdoor spaces, a solid color works well and won’t seem too tacky.

From Popular-Science

It is an object my grandmother would certainly have called “tacky, tacky,” and she would have been right.

From Washington Post

In the evening, masked waitresses in colorful, frilly dresses balance bottles of tequila on their heads and perform to “Baby Shark” at a tacky restaurant in Cancún’s nightlife district.

From Time

There’s a universal tripod plate with various threaded sockets, as well as an adhesive wall mount that sticks to any flat surface with a tacky 3M adhesive.

From Popular-Science

“All of the ideas were so awful and tacky so I said no,” she says.

From The Daily Beast

Some of the sweaters he thought were true works of art, and some he thought were just tacky or funny.

From The Daily Beast

The American Apparel adverts are deemed tacky and offensive because they dramatize, brazenly, the sex-drenched time we live in.

From The Daily Beast

A brown tacky gleam of years of paint accumulation covers the three-story apartment.

From The Daily Beast

However tacky, this was hardly the flagrant public obscenity Cohen alleges.

From The Daily Beast

We looked like a tacky party as almost every one had on something borrowed or incongruous.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus cried the urchin, following close behind the party, upon his mountain-tacky.

From Project Gutenberg

Rounding and backing are best done after the glue has ceased to be tacky, but before it has set hard.

From Project Gutenberg

Although several of the formulas remained tacky for over a week, all dried thoroughly in the time allotted.

From Project Gutenberg

Cut off a slip of paper of the same size, put on some of the knotting, and when it is tacky, stick down the strengthening slip.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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