Tacky vs. Vulgar — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Tacky and Vulgar
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Definitions
Tacky
Slightly adhesive or gummy to the touch; sticky.
Vulgar
Crudely indecent
A vulgar joke.
Tacky
Lacking style or good taste; tawdry
Tacky clothes.
Vulgar
Deficient in taste, consideration, or refinement
"that vulgar jockeying for position around the bedside of the gravely ill" (Susan Sontag).
Tacky
Distasteful or offensive; tasteless
A tacky remark.
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Vulgar
Given to crudity or tastelessness, as in one's behavior
"He relentlessly vilified the studio executives as vulgar, ignorant hoodlums" (Marion Meade).
Tacky
Flimsy, rundown, or in poor repair
"a tacky room he could tear apart with his bare hands" (John Edgar Wideman).
Vulgar
Offensively excessive in self-display or expenditure; ostentatious
The huge vulgar houses and cars of the newly rich.
Tacky
Of a substance, slightly sticky.
This paint isn't dry yet; it's still a bit tacky.
Vulgar
Spoken by or expressed in language spoken by the common people; vernacular
The technical and vulgar names for an animal species.
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Tacky
(colloquial) Of low quality.
That market stall sells all sorts of tacky ornaments.
Vulgar
Of or associated with the great masses of people; common.
Tacky
(colloquial) In poor taste.
That was a tacky thing to say.
Vulgar
Debased, uncouth, distasteful, obscene.
Vulgar language
Vulgar words
A truly vulgar showing of affection
Vulgar and highly distressing scenes
Tacky
Gaudy or flashy.
Vulgar
(classical sense) Having to do with ordinary, common people.
Tacky
Shabby, dowdy in one's appearance or dress.
Vulgar
Common, usual; of the typical kind.
Tacky
Sticky; adhesive; raw; - said of paint, varnish, etc., when not well dried.
Vulgar
(math) Being a vulgar fraction.
Tacky
Dowdy, shabby, or neglected in appearance; unkempt.
Vulgar
(classicism) A common, ordinary person.
Tacky
In poor taste; appearing cheap; gaudy; unstylish. Broadly used to describe objects whose style is disapproved of by the speaker.
Vulgar
(collective) The common people.
Tacky
Tactless; in poor taste; - used to describe behavior.
Vulgar
The vernacular tongue or common language of a country.
Tacky
An ill-conditioned, ill-fed, or neglected horse; also, a person in a like condition.
Vulgar
Of or pertaining to the mass, or multitude, of people; common; general; ordinary; public; hence, in general use; vernacular.
Things vulgar, and well-weighed, scarce worth the praise.
It might be more useful to the English reader . . . to write in our vulgar language.
The mechanical process of multiplying books had brought the New Testament in the vulgar tongue within the reach of every class.
Tacky
(of a glutinous liquid such as paint) not completely dried and slightly sticky to the touch;
Tacky varnish
Vulgar
Belonging or relating to the common people, as distinguished from the cultivated or educated; pertaining to common life; plebeian; not select or distinguished; hence, sometimes, of little or no value.
Men who have passed all their time in low and vulgar life.
In reading an account of a battle, we follow the hero with our whole attention, but seldom reflect on thevulgar heaps of slaughter.
Tacky
Tastelessly showy;
A flash car
A flashy ring
Garish colors
A gaudy costume
Loud sport shirts
A meretricious yet stylish book
Tawdry ornaments
Vulgar
Hence, lacking cultivation or refinement; rustic; boorish; also, offensive to good taste or refined feelings; low; coarse; mean; base; as, vulgar men, minds, language, or manners.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Vulgar
One of the common people; a vulgar person.
These vile vulgars are extremely proud.
Vulgar
The vernacular, or common language.
Vulgar
Lacking refinement or cultivation or taste;
He had coarse manners but a first-rate mind
Behavior that branded him as common
An untutored and uncouth human being
An uncouth soldier--a real tough guy
Appealing to the vulgar taste for violence
The vulgar display of the newly rich
Vulgar
Of or associated with the great masses of people;
The common people in those days suffered greatly
Behavior that branded him as common
His square plebeian nose
A vulgar and objectionable person
The unwashed masses
Vulgar
Being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language;
Common parlance
A vernacular term
Vernacular speakers
The vulgar tongue of the masses
The technical and vulgar names for an animal species
Vulgar
Conspicuously and tastelessly indecent;
Coarse language
A crude joke
Crude behavior
An earthy sense of humor
A revoltingly gross expletive
A vulgar gesture
Full of language so vulgar it should have been edited
