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 cheesy broccoli soup 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. Type Greek characters with a virtual keyboard. I think I’ve got some cheesy biscuits in the cupboard. All the tourist shops sell cheesy souvenirs. I don’t want to watch a cheesy old black-and-white movie.