What does sketchy mean?

sketchy has two main meanings in contemporary English in the UK. Both are quite informal.

The older meaning, which several answers have noted, is derived from a sketch, which is a quick, rough drawing, not a finished piece of art or an accurate design drawing. From that origin we get a quick, rough description, a brief outline. 'Can you just sketch out for us your ideas about the new marketing campaign?' you might ask someone in a meeting.

The word is still very current in this sense, and it's probably the sense in which most people over about 30 would use it.

The newer meaning (I'd guess it's become current within the last five years) is of something 'questionable' or 'dodgy' or even 'unsafe'. I would say this is the sense in which most people under 30 would usually be using it. For example, last night I was talking with my son about a cycle club he belongs to, at his university. He described one incident when a group of them were cycling at night, most without helmets, most without brakes or lights on their bikes, and suddenly found themselves arriving at a road junction with a very unpredictable road surface. He described it as a sketchy moment ... meaning both that they shouldn't have been out like that without proper safety precautions, and also that there was a real danger of accident when they hit the dodgy surface.

I think the second meaning is derived from the first, from the sense of a sketch as something rough, to a desciption that is just a very rough outline and not necessarily very accurate, to a situation which is not really ideal, to a situation that is positively dodgy. But the second sense is now clearly established in its own right, and it should be treated as a completely distinct meaning for the word. It is quite a bit more informal than the first meaning.

Sketchy Meaning

In this Case Sketchy means shady or as one person said Iffy.

sketchy means something or someone that gives off a bad feeling.. In this case it means questionable

The following "offers little...of tourist attractions" gives you a clue. There's very little to do in this town to amuse yourself for a traveler. So, not much to do and has no casinos, theaters, malls, etc. to occupy your time with.

sketch·y

adj

1. superficial: lacking in substance, depth, or finality

2. giving only rough idea: giving only the main points, with little detail

Encarta ® World English Dictionary

it means that it is questionable it is similar to saying not really or kind of it also hot n cold things like that

Of questionable or doubtful quality.

I'd say it means not trustworthy... not worthy of your interests even...

Shady, "ghetto", uncharacteristically wierd.