Well , it ‘ s a little cheesy ground beef and rice casserole , but . Do you smell what i smell ? You ‘ re being too cheesy . Don ’ t wear that shirt .

This is an important word and nobody has it right yet. What it means is: Trying too hard, unsubtle, and inauthentic. Specifically that which is unsubtle or inauthentic in its way of trying to elicit a certain response from a viewer, listener, audience, etc. Celine Dion is cheesy because her lyrics, timbre, key changes, and swelling orchestral accompaniment telegraph ‘i want you to be moved’ instead of moving you. What seems cheesy to me, may be a legitimate and attractive hairstyle to you.

What seems cheesy to me, may cause you to weep and hug your girlfriend tight. That Celine Dion song is so cheesy. From cheese cloth, the thin cheap fabric used to drain cheese curd, and in the past sometimes used instead for proper cloth in cheap clothing. This one feels a little cheesy. Hence any low-grade or fake product, tangible or not, offered to the public. Something that is unintentionally kitschy, tacky, or of poor quality, but these flaws go unnoticed by the admirers of said thing.

Something that was popular at some point in the past, but that now seems lame in retrospect. I can’t believe you like Ashlee Simpson. Hey, look at this picture of dad from 1975! Check out those sideburns and bellbottoms!

More specifically, the status quo here being that of Generation X. In fact, we hated them so much, that we kept listening to them last night and singing along until 4 in the morning. Look up a word, learn it forever. Use the word cheesy to describe something that’s cheap or badly made. You might hope your fake Rolex watch will impress your friends, but they’re bound to see how cheesy it is.

A really horrible motel room, with shag carpeting and strange art on the walls, can be described as cheesy, and so can a badly-written, sloppily made television movie. Cheesy is a great informal way to talk about shoddy or slightly unpleasant things. It comes from late 1800’s United States university student slang, which also included the term cheese, which meant “ignorant, stupid person. Test prep from the experts Boost your test score with programs developed by Vocabulary.

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Making educational experiences better for everyone. To save this word, you’ll need to log in. Subscribe to America’s largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Get Word of the Day daily email! I went to the ______ store to buy a birthday card. Solve today’s spelling word game by finding as many words as you can with using just 7 letters.

Can you make 12 words with 7 letters? Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. Some may be more useful than others. Editor Emily Brewster clarifies the difference. An old-fashioned rule we can no longer put up with.