say it: STIK-ee
sticky is an adjective meaning "having the sticky properties of an adhesive". It carries 5 recorded senses.
moist as with undried perspiration and with clothing sticking to the body
“felt sticky and chilly at the same time”
hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment
“awkward (or embarrassing or difficult) moments in the discussion”
“an awkward pause followed his remark”
“a sticky question”
“in the unenviable position of resorting to an act he had planned to save for the climax of the campaign”
covered with an adhesive material
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for sticky come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.