adj, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Unpleasantly sticky; yucky; disgusting. informal

   "I stepped in something icky and it smells terrible."

2. 2
   Excessively sentimental. informal
3. 3
   Unwell or upset; in a bad state of mind or health. informal

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

Adjective

1. 1
   soft and sticky wordnet
2. 2
   very bad wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

stinkingatrociousbadbarfybrackishbum

Antonyms

All antonyms

immaculate

Example

More examples

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

Etymology

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

Related phrases

icky-poosticky-icky

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.