Dictionary

ticky-tacky en · ADJ

Etymology

Probably reduplication of tacky. Apparently coined by Malvina Reynolds in the early 1960s (see quotation, below).

Meanings

1. (US, not-comparable) Made of this material; cheaply built, of low quality.
   • My first impression was that Phoenix was another American Dream (a la L.A.) come true—ticky-tacky tract housing complexes and mini-malls stretching boundlessly into the flat desert horizon. 2013, K.T. Berger, Where the Road and the Sky Collide, page 112:
2. (broadly, not-comparable) Inferior, minor, trivial.
   • It almost seems that major discipline problems take care of themselves; it is the day-to-day little ticky-tacky issues that bind and scratch and itch until you find that you are boxed in with a class that you can no longer control. 2010, Charles Mertz, So, You Want to be a Teacher, page 99:

Forms

Relateds

ticky-tack

Synonyms

rubbish · punk · crap · insignificant · schlocky · tin-pot · below par · inferior · poor man's · poor · less than · low-rent · pissant · frivolous · pathetic · fourth-rate · cheap and nasty · pound-shop · streets behind · cheesy · meager · pointless · bum · ass · lousy · contemptible · chintzy · inconsiderable · cullionly · slazy · unweighty · ignorable · woeful · low-quality · mid · shoddy · flimsy · garbage · crummy · drecky · lousy · bad · foolish · trifling · piteous · trifling · suckworthy · subpar · streets behind · two-bit · slim · god-awful · immaterial · craptacular · indifferent · pound-shop · null · pitiful · bottom-shelf · cruddy · shoddy · BTEC · shite · minor · trash · worthless · made in China · base · inferior · miserable · picayunish · ropy · paltry · low-grade · vain · base · silly · unimportant · picayune · under par · inconsequential · wretched · shit · crappo · dogwater · cheapshit · floccinaucinihilipilificatious · slight · sucky · negligible · shitty · crapperific · piddly · low · like a fart in a windstorm · ticky-tacky · tin-pot · nothingburger · simple · nondescript · nonsuperior · substandard · one-star · for the birds · pissass · ticky-tacky · cheap · craptabulous · sad · poor man's · futile · mean · petty · ticky-tacky · crappy · trivial · idle · trashy · daddocky · cruddy · craptastic · poor man's · cheapie · scrubby · piddling · ignorable · gash · coffee-and · second best · third-rate · wretched · rinky-dink · slight · second-rate · tenth-rate · BTEC · naughty

wikipedia: Malvina Reynolds

ticky-tacky en · NOUN

Etymology

Probably reduplication of tacky. Apparently coined by Malvina Reynolds in the early 1960s (see quotation, below).

Meanings

1. (US, uncountable) Cheap, low-quality building material, especially as that used to make conventional suburban housing of a uniform design.
   • And the boys go into business, and marry and raise a family / In boxes made of ticky-tacky, and they all look just the same. 1962, Malvina Reynolds, “Little Boxes”:
   • For there was no roadside ticky-tacky at all, no Burger Kings, no Golden Arches, no car lots, no shopping malls and parking lots, no sprawling cheap housing developments, none of the endless suburban crudscape that marked the ride from the airport to any major American city. 2013 May 27, Norman Spinrad, Russian Spring, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

Forms

wikipedia: Malvina Reynolds