icky

[ik-ee]

adjective

Informal.

ickier, ickiest 

1. repulsive or distasteful.

   Synonyms: nasty, revolting

2. excessively sweet or sentimental.

3. unsophisticated or old-fashioned.

   Synonyms: gooey, gummy

4. sticky; viscid.

icky

/ ˈɪkɪ /

adjective

1. sticky

2. excessively sentimental or emotional

Other Word Forms

• ickiness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of icky¹

An Americanism dating back to 1930–35; of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

He stress-tests our icky, grubby pity for Matthew and, beyond that, the flimsiness of modern fame culture and its fake-it-till-you-make-it inspirational platitudes.

From Los Angeles Times

A female police officer who volunteered to run in plain clothes to catch catcallers has said their behaviour "makes me feel really sort of icky".

From BBC

"Intimacy is made simple for you, it's made fun in the short term, but the more you play, the more you feel kind of icky."

From BBC

But waiting for a less icky opportunity means ceding the ground to people who want to make the structural problems much worse.

From Salon

But a somewhat unexpected way that this impacted me was that it felt very icky.

From Science Magazine

Related Words

• disgusting 
• horrible 
• nasty 
• sickening