adjective
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of, relating to, or resembling tin
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cheap, badly made, or shoddy
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(of a sound) high, thin, and metallic
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(of food or drink) flavoured with metal, as from a container
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informal lucky
noun
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slang a can of beer
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Also: tinnie. informal a small fishing or pleasure boat with an aluminium hull
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tinny
Explanation
If something is tinny, it sounds weak and a little metallic. Music played on an old-fashioned transistor radio would sound tinny compared to a fancy new stereo. Tinny sounds are vaguely unpleasant, and tinny objects are poorly constructed, of cheap metal. You'll have more fun cooking in a heavy cast iron skillet than a thin, tinny pan. You could say that tinny things either sound like tin being struck with a spoon or appear to be made from tin. And if something tastes tinny, you can detect a metallic flavor in it.
Vocabulary lists containing tinny
Unwind
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Red, White & Royal Blue
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All My Rage
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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.
Timo Kurkikangas’s sound design could use some tweaks—the spoken text was sometimes tinny or drowned out by the orchestra.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
Nearly all televisions have small, tinny speakers that make it difficult to hear dialogue, especially for some of us older folk.
From Barron's • Nov. 26, 2025
“There is not a thing that comes to mind,” was her tinny response, and that gaffe is entirely on the former vice president.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 10, 2025
Then he makes this film that looks tinny, like bad TV.
From Salon • Oct. 24, 2024
In the cavernous stadium, the cheers seemed distant, tinny.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
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.
