smudgy
Americanadjective
-
marked with smudges; smeared; smeary.
-
emitting a stifling smoke; smoky.
-
British Dialect. humid; sweltering; sultry.
adjective
-
smeared, blurred, or soiled, or likely to become so
-
made deliberately indistinct or cloudy
smudgy colours
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of smudgy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Pugh, with her droll line readings and smudgy blue eyeliner, plays apathy better than anyone; she’s compelling even with all the passion drained from her body.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2025
Diop’s voice-over guides us through smudgy, decades-old home videos that she scans for traces of her mother, who only appears fleetingly, at the edges.
From New York Times ● Jun. 23, 2022
The lines, made with graphite or silverpoint, waver slightly; the surfaces are often smudgy or blotchy.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 25, 2022
Grid View Photos in bright daylight look fine, and even moderately low light images look good enough for social media, though images in very low light are a smudgy mess of noise reduction.
From The Verge ● Feb. 2, 2022
I licked my thumb and wiped at that blackbird tattoo, leaving a smudgy black spot on my hand.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
A cloud no larger and smudgier than a high-school boy's hand had dropped its first shadow between them.
From Star-Dust by Fannie Hurst
I can spot the smudgiest bus and the most hidden car with ease.
From The Verge ● May 23, 2021
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
