tatty

[tat-ee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tatty ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, tat·ti·er, tat·ti·est.

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.

Origin of tatty

1505–15; tat rag (probably back formation from tatter¹) + -y¹

Related formstat·ti·ly, adverbtat·ti·ness, noun

tatty

or tat·tie

[tat-ee]

noun, plural tat·ties.

(in India) a screen, usually made of coarse, fragrant fibers, placed over a window or door and kept moistened with water in order to cool and deodorize the room.

Origin of tatty

First recorded in 1785–95, tatty is from the Hindi word ṭaṭṭī

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for tatty

bedraggled, broken-down, crummy, decayed, decaying, decrepit, deteriorated, dilapidated, dingy, disreputable, faded, mangy, moth-eaten, pitiful, poverty-stricken, ragged, ramshackle, ratty, rickety, run-down

Examples from the Web for tatty

Contemporary Examples of tatty

Amidst the detritus of old amplifiers, beaten up electric guitars and drum kits was a tatty white plastic bag.
The Lost Madonna Tapes
Andrew Morton
October 20, 2008

Historical Examples of tatty

Then Tatty sat down and wept, and a three-legged stool said: "Tatty, why do you weep?"
Childhood's Favorites and Fairy Stories
Various
Then Tatty sat down and wept; then a three-legged stool said: "Tatty, why do you weep?"
Children's Literature
Charles Madison Curry
Titty and Tatty are among the many rhyming compounds of which the meaning is no longer clear.
Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes
Lina Eckenstein
"Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse" also ends in a universal calamity which seems to arise from a cause of no great importance.
English Fairy Tales
Anonymous
Titty Mouse went a-gleaning, and Tatty Mouse went a-gleaning.
English Fairy Tales
Flora Annie Steel

British Dictionary definitions for tatty

tatty

adjective -tier or -tiest

mainly British worn out, shabby, tawdry, or unkempt

Derived Formstattily, adverbtattiness, noun

Word Origin for tatty

C16: of Scottish origin, probably related to Old English tættec a tatter

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for tatty

adj.

1510s, "tangled or matted" (of hair), Scottish, probably related to Old English tættec "a rag" (see tatter). Sense of "tattered, ragged, shabby" first recorded 1933.