tatty

adjective

tat·​ty ˈta-tē 

tattier; tattiest

: rather worn, frayed, or dilapidated : shabby

a tatty shirt

tattiness

ˈta-tē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• beat-up
• bombed-out
• dilapidated
• dog-eared
• down-at-the-heels
• down-at-heel
• down-at-the-heel
• down-at-heels
• dumpy
• grungy
• mangy
• mean
• miserable
• moth-eaten
• neglected
• ratty
• run-down
• scrubby
• scruffy
• seedy
• shabby
• sleazy
• tacky
• tatterdemalion
• threadbare
• timeworn
• tumbledown

Examples of tatty in a Sentence

the owner has let the restaurant become increasingly tatty over the years

Recent Examples on the Web

Cash is still printed regularly, because torn and tatty notes need to be replaced. —The Week Uk, theweek, 3 Aug. 2024

Orwell typed for hours upstairs, sitting on his iron bedstead in a tatty dressing gown, chain-smoking shag tobacco. —Stephen Metcalf, The Atlantic, 5 Apr. 2024

Perhaps irony, like water for the swimming pool, is a resource that dries up seasonally in these parts, leaving only a dust bowl of surly resentment and some tatty deckchairs behind. —Jessica Kiang, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2023

Shacking up in tatty digs on the premises, the men and women who provide daily diversions for the all-inclusive package tourists have the self-organizing camaraderie of a circus troupe. —Jessica Kiang, Variety, 17 Aug. 2023

Word History

Etymology

perhaps akin to Old English tætteca rag — more at tatter

First Known Use

1513, in the meaning defined above