Things that are tacky are cheap, flashy, garish, gaudy, loud, tawdry, or trashy. Tacky clothes are a fashion nightmare, and tacky comments are embarrassing for everyone involved.
If you wore a bright orange suit to school, with a neon green hat, you'd be dressing in a tacky way. Tacky clothes are usually inexpensive yet flashy and showy — obnoxious. When people make tasteless, trashy comments, it's also considered tacky. But if you're in art class and someone says that your paper-mâché project is tacky, don't get mad — they probably just mean that it's not dry yet and still sticky to the touch.
1 |
adj |
tastelessly showy
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2 |
adj |
(of a glutinous liquid such as paint) not completely dried and slightly sticky to the touch
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