ticky-tacky
Americanadjective
-
shoddy and unimaginatively designed; flimsy and dull.
a row of new, ticky-tacky bungalows.
noun
Etymology
Origin of ticky-tacky
First recorded in 1960–65; gradational compound based on tacky 2
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.
“It seems kind of ticky-tacky, but it helps with my mental state to think of myself that way ... I survived something that many people haven’t.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2025
They are hulking cubes and, no matter how much developers splash on colorful paint and add bits of ticky-tacky, they all look as if they came from the same box of Legos.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 17, 2023
In the 1950s, inexpensive "cottages" sprang up all over the Bay Area, providing what folksinger Malvina Reynolds called "little boxes made of ticky-tacky."
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2020
Yet again and again, they flag ticky-tacky, or even phantom, contact, and they overlook obvious muggings.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 27, 2016
Hillshire was built in the late 1970s, its single-story, three-bedroom homes designed with no particular architectural pedigree, but not ticky-tacky identical.
From New York Times ● Aug. 28, 2013
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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.
