smokestack

American  

[smohk-stak] / ˈsmoʊkˌstæk /

noun

1. Also called stack.  a pipe for the escape of the smoke or gases of combustion, as on a steamboat, locomotive, or building.

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adjective

1. pertaining to, engaged in, or dependent on a basic heavy industry, as steel or automaking.

   smokestack companies.

smokestack British  

/ ˈsməʊkˌstæk /

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: stack.  a tall chimney that conveys smoke into the air

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Etymology

Origin of smokestack

First recorded in 1855–60; smoke + stack

Explanation

The chimney on top of a factory or a ship can be called a smokestack. If you look at Google Images for the word "pollution," you'll see lots of pictures of smokestacks spewing thick, gray smoke. The main difference between the words chimney and smokestack is that you're more likely to call the flue on top of your house a chimney, saving smokestack for more industrial uses. Steam locomotives used smokestacks to release smoke and steam — the exhaust from the train's smokebox. Without the smokestack, the pressure would become dangerously high inside the train, causing it to explode.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

smokestack

Whatever “industrials” means in the modern sense, “it isn’t smokestack industries,” said Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist Steves Sosnick.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

“They’re going to look like an Amazon distribution warehouse; there’s no smokestack and massive tailings pond next to it.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026

For decades, these newly immigrated workers would be segregated into the neighborhoods surrounding the smokestack, he added, leading to the growth of a large multigenerational Mexican community.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2025

They're worried about PFAs plumes in their ground, poisoning their water, or whether or not their air is poisoned by sulfur dioxide from a smokestack next to them.

From Salon ● May 2, 2025

We stood at the end of the fallen smokestack and stared at the trains coming and going.

From "Milkweed" by Jerry Spinelli

Related Words

• industrialized
• mechanical
• modern
• technical