What does sketchy mean here?

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.

According to Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:

1 : of the nature of a sketch : roughly outlined

2 : wanting in completeness, clearness, or substance : slight , superficial <the details are sketchy>

3 : questionable , iffy <got into a sketchy situation> <a sketchy character>

In this case, you're definitely looking at definition number three. The word sketchy is often used to describe things that you might want to avoid, or are of a questionable source or nature. The writer of this passage apparently got the creeps while staying in Limon for whatever reason, probably from the Hotel he/she stayed at.

You can talk about a person as being sketchy as well. It would mean that they are suspicious somehow. They make you wonder if they don't have some kind of secret. What are they hiding? Or perhaps you simply sense something weird about them but cannot put your finger on it.

Hope that helps!

Sketchy in this context means thin or bare...not fully formed. The writer is trying to say that there is really not much to see or do in Limon - the town doesn't really have much for tourists, and what there is seems thin or not very interesting.

Shady. You don't feel secure in trusting anything "sketchy"

It means that you do not feel safe there. A sketchy place....an unsafe place

It means strange and untrustworthy. It's what you call something when you suspect that it might be bad, but you really don't know.

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It could mean iffy, or unsure in this instance.

=]

here it means creepy, "dangerous", "scary", "shady", or "untrustworthy". (Like the "bad" part of town..., that sort of thing)

it means they were not feeling safe