tatty
1 Americanadjective
-
cheap or tawdry; vulgar.
a tatty production of a Shakespearean play.
-
shabby or ill-kempt; ragged; untidy.
an old house with dirty windows and tatty curtains.
noun
-
tatties
plural
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tatty1
1505–15; tat rag (probably back formation from tatter 1 ) + -y 1
Origin of tatty2
First recorded in 1785–95, tatty is from the Hindi word ṭaṭṭī
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 soon as Williams ascends to a new height of fame, it begins to look tatty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2024
She said the 100-page book "is like a faded souvenir, tatty but treasurable for its associations with the fabulous imaginary world that Márquez conjured up in his prime".
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2024
If, as he spends the book insisting, all he and Meghan ever wanted was domestic simplicity — tatty sofas, Ikea lamps — then why, upon leaving the family, did they buy a $15 million house?
From Washington Post ● Jan. 13, 2023
"Noone can stop them," mused Fane on Gran Canaria island where colourful, abandoned migrant boats contain tatty shoes, sardine tins, plastic bottles and a life vest.
From Reuters ● Aug. 11, 2022
She sagged onto the sofa and tucked her legs up under her tatty pink bathrobe.
From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen
Yes, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer tucked in a bib and tucked into the haggis, accompanied by neeps and tatties, cute Scottish names for turnips and potatoes, mashed and buttered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2025
The night is traditionally marked with a supper of haggis, accompanied by neeps and tatties - mashed turnips and potatoes.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2025
The “Haggis, Neeps & Tatties” — neeps and tatties are turnips and potatoes and haggis is, well, a lot of things — gets a rating of 3.4.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 6, 2021
The theme was Scottish, in honor of Carnegie, and, after a lunch of braised short ribs Balmoral and roasted tatties, Judy Woodruff, the PBS news anchor, began the ceremony.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 14, 2016
It’s all very tidy and pretty in a wifely way, but she’ll have dug up her geraniums to plant tatties for the War Effort.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
