Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Disagreeably sticky.
  • adjective Offensive; distasteful.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective informal very bad; repulsive; unpleasant; distasteful.
  • adjective sticky.
  • adjective Overly sentimental; -- of stories or dramas.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective unpleasantly sticky; yucky; disgusting
  • adjective excessively sentimental

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective very bad
  • adjective soft and sticky

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably ick + -y.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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