smoggy

American  

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

adjective

• smoggier,
  comparative
• smoggiest
  superlative

1. full of or characterized by smog.

---

Other Word Forms

Adjective Inflected Forms

• smoggier
  comparative
• smoggiest
  superlative

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

See Examples For:

smoggy smoggier smoggiest

The cashier at the local Chopt admitted to me that foot traffic had slowed significantly this week, even before the smoggy conditions set in.

From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026

American flags waved as “The Star Spangled Banner” rang out on a smoggy day in the heart of the capital.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026

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

Now, on hot, smoggy summer days, visibility can be as little as two miles and never more than thirty.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Despite increasingly warmer, smoggier summers, I rarely shed my shirt to run in just my sports bra.

From Salon ● Mar. 2, 2024

And now, in addition to pollution, regulators are contending with climate change, conditions scientists say could lead to a smoggier future.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2022

Bangalore now reminds him of the Silicon Valley, and Beijing and New Delhi are smoggier than anything he had ever encountered at home.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 17, 2014

On some days, and by some measures, Salt Lake City is smoggier than Beijing.

From Economist ● Jan. 30, 2014

When alone, the old smoggier said: "Now, speak out, young man!"

From The Dock Rats of New York by Harlan Page Halsey

A midday local kickoff would put the game squarely in the hottest, smoggiest part of the day in a move that England fears would only enhance Mexico’s home-field advantage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026

Yet, even despite its progress, Greater Los Angeles still is the nation’s smoggiest region — and that’s only one pollutant to keep in mind.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2023

The South Coast air district — a 6,700-square-mile basin spanning Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties — has long held the title as the smoggiest region in the nation.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2022

They were checking to make sure villagers in Tangshan’s Fengrun district — one of China’s smoggiest spots — had quit burning coal for heat.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 3, 2021

Henan's Anyang, which ranked as China's smoggiest city in 2020, failed to meet a requirement to close 6.6 million tonnes of inefficient coking capacity last year, the ministry said.

From Reuters ● Jul. 16, 2021