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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sticky.

Tending to stick; able to adhere via the drying of a viscous substance.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈstɪki/
  1. Tending to stick; able to adhere via the drying of a viscous substance.

    Is this tape sticky enough to stay on that surface?
  2. Difficult, awkward.

    This is a sticky situation. We could be in this for weeks if we're not careful.
  3. Of a death: unpleasant, grisly.

  4. Of weather: hot and windless and with high humidity, so that people feel sticky from sweating.

  5. Mawkish, sentimental.

  6. Tending to stay the same; resistant to change.

    a sticky price; sticky wages
  7. Persistent.

    informal
    We should make the printing direction sticky so the user doesn't have to keep setting it.
  8. Appearing on all virtual desktops.

  9. Fixed at the top of the list of topics or threads so as to keep it in view.

    Internet
  10. Compelling enough to keep visitors from leaving.

    Internet
    A woman has come to me with the complaint that her website is not sticky: 70% of the visits last 30 seconds or less.
  11. Resembling or characteristic of a stick.

    informal
    What's something that is brown and sticky? A stick
Where this word comes from

From stick + -y.

noun/ˈstɪki/
  1. A sticky note, such as a post-it note.

    countable · uncountable
    Her desk is covered with yellow stickies.
  2. A discussion thread fixed at the top of the list of topics or threads so as to keep it in view.

    Internet · countable · uncountable
  3. A small adhesive particle found in wastepaper.

    countable · uncountable
  4. A sweet dessert wine.

    Australia · colloquial · countable · uncountable
  5. Sticky-icky; marijuana, especially the sticky, resin-covered buds.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  6. Wax.

    obsolete · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From stick + -y.

verb/ˈstɪki/
  1. To fix (a discussion thread) at the top of the list of topics or threads so as to keep it in view.

    Internet · transitive
Where this word comes from

From stick + -y.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.