tacky

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   showing poor taste and quality; or slightly sticky to the touch

   The souvenir shop was full of tacky plastic ornaments.

In the 'sticky' sense, from tack ('a small nail; stickiness') + -y. In the American 'shabby, in poor taste' sense, from a dialectal noun tacky meaning a poor-quality or inferior horse, later applied to people and things.

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