ticky-tacky

adjective

variants also ticky-tack
Definition of ticky-tackynext
as in inappropriate
marked by an obvious lack of style or good taste her house is full of ticky-tacky figurines

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ticky-tacky
  1. inappropriate
  2. tacky
  3. trashy
  4. unsuitable
  5. incorrect
  6. cheesy
  7. wrong
  8. unfashionable
Adjective
  • Parental Controls for Shared Devices Parents can restrict access to adult and inappropriate content, which helps when kids use the same phones, tablets, or laptops.
    — StackCommerce Team, PC Magazine, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Val Chmerkovskiy has been suspended from Dancing with the Stars for one week after making an inappropriate comment toward one of the judges last week.
    — Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of inappropriate
Adjective
  • As all women know, the more sparkle, the better (without straying into tacky territory, that is).
    — Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 19 Oct. 2026
  • The work is tacky in signifiers, excruciating in implication.
    — Eugenie Brinkema, ARTnews.com, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of tacky
Adjective
  • That’s already more standout performances than in the entire run of films, a reminder that working with trashy IP is a safer bet than attempting to embellish a classic.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 13 Oct. 2026
  • And indeed, the show was teased with a trashy image—a picture of a New York City street lined with waste during the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike, that is.
    — Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of trashy
Adjective
  • At one unsuitable Gramercy apartment, Taylor encountered Cam Armand, a salesperson on the Kota team at Compass, and the Folwells enlisted his help.
    — Joyce Cohen, New York Times, 15 Oct. 2026
  • In a setting designed to make exceptional yachts desirable, explaining why a particular vessel is unsuitable requires commercial discipline.
    — Christoph Lymbersky, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of unsuitable
Adjective
  • The reality, of course, is that the Southern accent is not some incorrect version of a national standard but instead a historically separate and unique dialect – or, more accurately, set of dialects.
    — Valerie M. Fridland, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2026
  • And Ballmer and the Clippers remain adamant the penalties—and the allegations of misconduct—are incorrect.
    — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of incorrect
Adjective
  • This year, try my brussels sprouts with a crispy, cheesy skirt.
    — Jesse Szewczyk, Bon Appetit Magazine, 11 Oct. 2026
  • Kathryn Bigelow is one of our best action directors, even if this one is a bit cheesier than her best work.
    — Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of cheesy
Adjective
  • Its argument is that insurers have been pricing wildfire risk the wrong way, by looking backward at statistics and sorting homes by zip code.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The trailer begins as Ziegler’s Mae frantically asks family friend Benny, played by a sleepy Rob Lowe, for help after her big mistake — kissing the wrong brother between Graham Phillips’ Andrew and Elias Kacavas’ Theo.
    — Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of wrong
Adjective
  • Chemically straightened Afro hairstyles had gone from being the default to increasingly unfashionable.
    — Ata-owaji Victor, Vogue, 13 Oct. 2026
  • The dressing room—with its old Persian rug and deeply unfashionable mahogany desk—is just wrong enough to be, well, cool.
    — Plum Sykes, Architectural Digest, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of unfashionable
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

ticks off
ticky-tacky
tics
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Cite this Entry

“Ticky-tacky.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ticky-tacky. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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