Creepy, sketchy, sketchy-looking; scary, embarrassing. Derived from the noun стремя (stirrup), historically rooted in military readiness or being “on alert”, which later shifted in slang to mean anxiety or fear. Functions as an incredibly common adverb or predicate to describe something that causes fear, looks dodgy, or feels socially awkward and embarrassing (мне как-то стрёмно туда идти — “I feel kind of sketched out about going there”, or выглядеть стрёмно — “to look embarrassing/lame”).
Проснулся на столе лежит шоколадка и рядом с ней записка «Спи Спокойно Сынок» становиться стрёмно есть эту шоколадку.
I woke up and on the table lies chocolate with note “sleep tight sonny” it feels scary to eat this chocolate.
(bash.org.ru, 08/2009)
