smudgy

American  

[smuhj-ee] / ˈsmʌdʒ i /

adjective

smudgier, smudgiest

1. marked with smudges; smeared; smeary.

2. emitting a stifling smoke; smoky.

3. British Dialect. humid; sweltering; sultry.

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smudgy British  

/ smʌdʒɪ /

adjective

1. smeared, blurred, or soiled, or likely to become so

2. made deliberately indistinct or cloudy

   smudgy colours

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Other Word Forms

• smudgily
  adverb
• smudginess
  noun

Etymology

Origin of smudgy

First recorded in 1840–50; smudge + -y ¹

Example Sentences

Smudgy cartoonlike pastels coexisted with raw plaster works and jewel boxes bedecked elaborately with wool, glass, straight pins, knives and sometimes taxidermized birds — animistic objects that resembled little else being made in the 1960s.

From New York Times • Mar. 7, 2024

Smudgy backdrops recall vintage graphic screenprints or storybooks, as insects, animals, and the attributes of the region’s delicate flora are drawn in affecting detail.

From Los Angeles Times • May 30, 2019

Smudgy and grainy, but also elegant and strong, Serra’s blurred lines balance the industrial and the poetic.

From Washington Post • Aug. 19, 2015

Smudgy, but if you hold it off like that it's more like what I meant to do.

From The Old Blood by Palmer, Frederick