tacky.
Of a substance, slightly sticky.
Meaning & usage
Of a substance, slightly sticky.
This paint isn't dry yet; it's still a bit tacky.
Where this word comes from
From tack + -y.
Of low quality.
That market stall sells all sorts of tacky ornaments.
In poor taste.
That was a tacky thing to say.
Gaudy or flashy.
Shabby, dowdy in one's appearance or dress.
Where this word comes from
Sense “in poor taste” from 1888, from earlier sense meaning shabby or seedy. Also see tackey (“neglected horse”), Southern US colloquialism from 1800s, later extended to people.
Alternative form of tackey.
Where this word comes from
Sense “in poor taste” from 1888, from earlier sense meaning shabby or seedy. Also see tackey (“neglected horse”), Southern US colloquialism from 1800s, later extended to people.
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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.