sticky
/ˈstɪki/ adjective, noun, verb
Forms stickier stickiest stickies stickying stickied
- adjective Tending to stick; able to adhere via the drying of a viscous substance. “Is this tape sticky enough to stay on that surface?”
- adjective Difficult, awkward. “This is a sticky situation. We could be in this for weeks if we're not careful.”
- adjective Of a death: unpleasant, grisly.
- adjective Of weather: hot and windless and with high humidity, so that people feel sticky from sweating.
- adjective Mawkish, sentimental.
- adjective (finance) Tending to stay the same; resistant to change. “a sticky price; sticky wages”
- adjective (computing, informal, of a setting) Persistent. “We should make the printing direction sticky so the user doesn't have to keep setting it.”
- adjective (computing, of a window) Appearing on all virtual desktops.
- noun A sticky note, such as a post-it note. “Her desk is covered with yellow stickies.”
- noun (Internet) A discussion thread fixed at the top of the list of topics or threads so as to keep it in view.
- noun (manufacturing) A small adhesive particle found in wastepaper.
- noun (Australia, colloquial) A sweet dessert wine.
- noun (slang) Sticky-icky; marijuana, especially the sticky, resin-covered buds.
- noun (obsolete, slang, uncountable) Wax.
- verb (Internet, bulletin boards, transitive) To fix (a discussion thread) at the top of the list of topics or threads so as to keep it in view.
- noun (slang) A member of the Official Irish Republican Army.
Synonyms
claggy close tenacious glutinous muggy sultry gluey gummy mucilaginous pasty viscid viscous steamy awkward embarrassing unenviable
Antonyms
Etymology
From stick + -y.
So called because they sold adhesive lilies to commemorate the Easter Rising.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sticky”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details