Meaning

3 senses

  1. (informal)Unpleasantly sticky; yucky; disgusting.

    I stepped in something icky and it smells terrible.

    eklig, ekelig, fies klebrig

    soft and sticky

  2. (informal)Excessively sentimental.

    kitschig

  3. (informal)Unwell or upset; in a bad state of mind or health.

    I'm not going to work today. I just feel icky.

    very bad

Examples

2 sentences

  1. It's rainy and icky here in Boston.

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  2. It was icky.

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Translations

5 languages
Deutsch
unpleasantly sticky; yucky; disgusting:
excessively sentimental:

Origin

1935, American English; from icky-boo (circa 1920): sickly, nauseated; baby talk corruptio

1935, American English; from icky-boo (circa 1920): sickly, nauseated; baby talk corruption of sick; from a sentimental term for jazz music.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

ickier, ickiest
Comparativeickier Lesson
Superlativeickiest Lesson

regular

Synonyms

63 synonyms
grossB2badA1sickA1illA2lousyB2queerB2roughB1unhealthyA2unwellB1ishyschmaltzysyrupytreaclybathetic
Close in meaning

Word family

5 related words
Relatedick
Derivedickilyickinessicky-poosticky-icky

Lessons for this word

2 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
icebergicebreakericicleicingiconB2iconiciconoclasticonography
icky — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto