foggy
Americanadjective
-
foggier,
comparative
-
foggiest
superlative
-
thick with or having much fog; misty.
a foggy valley;
a foggy spring day.
-
covered or enveloped as if with fog.
a foggy mirror.
-
(of thinking, ideas, etc.) dim or unclear as if obscured by fog; vague.
I haven't the foggiest notion of where she went.
- Synonyms:
- muddleheaded, muddled, fuzzy, befuddled
-
Difficulties with memory, concentration, attention, and fatigue left me feeling foggy and muddled much of the time.
-
Photography. affected by fog.
adjective
-
thick with fog
-
obscure or confused
-
another word for fogged
-
no idea whatsoever
I haven't the foggiest
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of foggy
First recorded in 1520–30; fog 2 + -y 1; original sense was “marshy, thick, murky”
Explanation
Something that's foggy is cloudy or murky, filled with fog. A foggy view is blurred and indistinct, just like a foggy mind. Driving on a foggy road can be tricky, since it's more or less like driving inside a cloud. When the inside of your head feels this way — blurry, clouded, and vague — you can also used foggy in a figurative way: "Her memory grew foggy as the years went by." Experts aren't sure whether foggy or fog came first, but in either case they suspect a Scandinavian root.
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:
"Everything was foggy, you couldn't open the window and it stank," she said, showing a picture on her phone of an orange glow partially obscured by thick smoke clouds that had turned the air black.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
“In parts of Southern California where it’s been foggy recently, it’s not a damp fog by any means. It’s a very humid, warm, muggy air mass,” Swain said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
The helicopter was transporting 25 intelligence experts and four special forces crew from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Fort George near Inverness when it crashed in foggy weather.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
In the San Gabriel Mountains, a blue wind phone stands on a foggy forest ridge near a roadside turnout in Wrightwood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
They watched the pale rings of light round his lanterns as they dwindled into the foggy night.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
For 21-year-old Marwa, the momentary burst of relief, of hopefulness, at having gotten out of Kabul in 2021 was morphing into something darker and foggier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
"And then the rain picks up and it gets foggier, and you hear something nearby and you're like, 'Oh, okay.' Suddenly you realise you're really vulnerable. You're really exposed."
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
It’s likely that her grief is making the future even foggier.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 25, 2026
“This will make the picture of Russia foggier still,” said Maksim Kurnikov, a broadcast journalist in exile in Berlin.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2023
Next morning dawned colder and foggier than ever, and even Wolf seemed dejected as he led them upstream.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
The seven-week study window covered the time of year when Heber Valley is the foggiest.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 29, 2023
Shifting away from the foggiest areas could save a little time and reduce the risk of accidents.
From Scientific American ● May 1, 2023
"I haven't got the foggiest when I'll be able to go home. I'm keeping my fingers crossed... because it will make a big difference."
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2023
As one general conceded, they did not understand Afghanistan and didn’t have “the foggiest notion” of what they were doing.
From New York Times ● Dec. 14, 2019
‘I haven’t the foggiest idea,’ the pilot answered.
From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl
Definitions 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.
