tacky
1 Americanadjective
adjective
-
not tasteful or fashionable; dowdy.
-
shabby in appearance; shoddy.
a tacky, jerry-built housing development.
-
crass; cheaply vulgar; tasteless; crude.
-
gaudy; flashy; showy.
adjective
-
shabby or shoddy
-
ostentatious and vulgar
-
(of a person) dowdy; seedy
adjective
Other Word Forms
- tackily adverb
- tackiness noun
Etymology
Origin of tacky1
First recorded in 1780–90; tack 1 + -y 1
Origin of tacky2
1880–85, apparently identical with earlier tack(e)y small horse, pony, poor farmer; of obscure origin
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.
Government auditors called out the purchase—not for being tacky but for how the worker got to the store: in a state car.
"The wicket got really good again for batting, it was slightly tacky earlier when we bowled," said Markram.
From Barron's
He tells BBC Newsbeat that he expected to receive a cease and desist letter from the retail giant after describing some of the clothes as "boring" and "tacky PE kit".
From BBC
"It was a tacky wicket as it was under cover for a while. After losing a few wickets, it was tough to get back into the game."
From Barron's
But trot's glory days appeared to be well and truly over, with many young people viewing the genre as tacky and old-fashioned.
From BBC
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.
