smoggy

American  

[smog-ee, smaw-gee] / ˈsmɒg i, ˈsmɔ gi /

adjective

smoggier, smoggiest

1. full of or characterized by smog.

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Etymology

Origin of smoggy

First recorded in 1925–30; smog + -y ¹

Explanation

If something is smoggy, it's hazy with a smoky kind of fog. On a smoggy day, you can see the pollution in the air. Smoggy air is full of smog, a word that comes from combining smoke and fog. The term was invented in the early 1900s to describe an unfortunate weather phenomenon first noted in London, where "pea soup fog" was a serious problem for much of the 19th and 20th centuries. Today's smoggy cities get their smog from different sources—instead of coal fires, for example, smoggy pollution is mainly caused by cars.

Example Sentences

It was often hot, dusty and smoggy and even though she had spent two weeks beforehand doing sessions in a heat chamber to acclimatise, it was unlike anything she had ever experienced.

From BBC • Apr. 27, 2026

The notoriously smoggy air of Mexico City has gotten much clearer.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026

Authorities once again issued an alert on Friday, a common occurrence on smoggy winter days, with cleaner air expected by Sunday.

From Barron's • Jan. 23, 2026

“The Kikuyu grass by the side of the road is crying silver tears the color of remembered light; Nairobi is a smoggy haze in the distance,” he writes in “Discovering Home.”

From New York Times • May 29, 2023

The land is covered by a thick, smoggy haze.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell