smoky
Americanadjective
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emitting, containing, or resembling smoke
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emitting smoke excessively or in the wrong place
a smoky fireplace
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of or tinged with the colour smoke
a smoky cat
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having the flavour of having been cured by smoking
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made dark, dirty, or hazy by smoke
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of smoky
A Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at smoke, -y 1
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:
On a hot and smoky mid-July Saturday night at the Detroit Opera House, the front-running campaign in Michigan’s Senate Democratic primary had little to say about the Republican Party.
From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026
The clouds, which have been observed during wildfires in Canada and Australia, are created by intense heat that lifts hot smoky air and causes the water vapor to condense into ash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
"By Sunday evening everything had really begun to empty out," a holidaymaker from Essex told the BBC, adding that the air was "really smoky" with bits of ash.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
“The quintessential image of price fixing is a secret deal made between competitors over cigars in a smoky back room,” attorneys wrote in the complaint.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
In the smoky room filled with customers who wear the cloth caps of working men, a barmaid whispers a name.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
The sky outside seemed even smokier than before.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2025
The air got smokier as we flew over the ice fields.
From Slate ● Aug. 9, 2024
The darker, the peatier, the smokier, the better.
From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2023
“Heat pumps provide an opportunity to transition off of gas, but they’re also a climate resilience measure,” she said, cooling and purifying homes in hotter and smokier summers.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 18, 2022
It had grown darker and smokier while they’d waited out the storm.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
Aged Cheddar is that cheese, sharp enough to stand up to the smokiest of smoked meats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
“Today it’s actually the smokiest that we’ve seen,” Nancy Phillipe, a Yosemite fire information spokesperson, said Sunday.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 10, 2022
For the smokiest, most charred flavor, grill thick planks of eggplant and then combine them with garlic, scallions, vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, and sesame oil.
From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2022
The new culinary spinoff “Chef’s Table: BBQ” travels the world in search of the smokiest, sauciest, rib-stickingest barbecue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2020
Stockport is renowned throughout the entire district as one of the duskiest, smokiest holes, and looks, indeed, especially when viewed from the viaduct, excessively repellent.
From The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 with a Preface written in 1892 by Kelley, Florence
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.
