From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtattytat‧ty /ˈtæti/ adjective (comparative tattier, superlative tattiest) informalCONDITION/STATE OF something in bad condition SYN shabby tatty jeans a few tatty old chairs —tattily adverb —tattiness noun [countable]
Examples from the Corpus
tatty• Some of our textbooks are starting to look rather tatty.• They were tatty and smelly and lethargic.• The banners we have are getting tatty as no-one worries very much how they are stored.• But a tatty, concrete post-war extension located on the south-east corner was demolished.• At the window of the cottage hang tatty, faded curtains.• But in truth he was a tatty little man with a furtive walk.• It struck her how tatty many of the buildings appeared now the lack of sun had robbed them of their charm.• a tatty old hatOrigin tatty (1900-2000) tat “dirty or torn piece of cloth” ((19-20 centuries)) 