tacky

/ˈtæki/

/ˈtæki/

Other forms: tackier; tackiest; tackily

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.

Definitions of tacky

1. adjective

   tastelessly showy
   synonyms: brassy, cheap, flash, flashy, garish, gaudy, gimcrack, glitzy, loud, meretricious, tatty, tawdry, trashy

   tasteless

   lacking aesthetic or social taste
2. adjective

   (of a glutinous liquid such as paint) not completely dried and slightly sticky to the touch
   “tacky varnish”

   synonyms:

   wet

   covered or soaked with a liquid such as water