adjective
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sticky
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excessively sentimental or emotional
Other Word Forms
- ickiness noun
Etymology
Origin of icky
An Americanism dating back to 1930–35; of uncertain origin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But over-the-top comments such as "Japanese people are next level" give her an "icky vibe", Kubota told AFP.
From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026
Ultimately, Franco jettisons his characters for the sake of unearned plot twists that leave the viewer feeling only icky.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026
“I was in a period of mourning and I didn’t want to give myself worldly pleasures because I thought it would make me feel icky or sad.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026
But for now, plenty of market signals suggest that it’s OK for investors to live in a home where there are cockroaches in the walls — as icky as it feels.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 6, 2025
There was an icky feeling in the pit of my stomach when I thought about lying to Grandma, the one person who’d helped me keep writing to Marcus—even talk to him on the phone.
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
