smudge

American  

[smuhj] / smʌdʒ /

noun

smudges plural

1. a dirty mark or smear.

2. a smeary state.

3. a stifling smoke.

4. a smoky fire, especially one made for driving away mosquitoes or safeguarding fruit trees from frost.

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verb (used with object)

smudges, present (3rd person singular) smudged, past participle, past smudging present participle

1. to mark with dirty streaks or smears.

2. to fill with smudge, as to drive away insects or protect fruit trees from frost.

verb (used without object)

smudges, present (3rd person singular) smudged, past participle, past smudging present participle

1. to form a smudge on something.

2. to become smudged.

   White shoes smudge easily.

3. to smolder or smoke; emit smoke, as a smudge pot.

smudge British  

/ smʌdʒ /

verb

1. to smear, blur, or soil or cause to do so

2. (tr) to fill (an area) with smoke in order to drive insects away or guard against frost

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noun

1. a smear or dirty mark

2. a blurred form or area

   that smudge in the distance is a quarry

3. a smoky fire for driving insects away or protecting fruit trees or plants from frost

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• smudgeless
  adjective
• unsmudged
  adjective
• smudgedly
  adverb
• smudgily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• smudges
  plural

Participles

• smudging
  present
• smudged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• smudge
  simple
• smudges
  simple
• have smudged
  perfect
• has smudged
  perfect
• am smudging
  progressive
• are smudging
  progressive
• is smudging
  progressive
• have been smudging
  perfect progressive
• has been smudging
  perfect progressive

Past

• smudged
  simple
• had smudged
  perfect
• was smudging
  progressive
• were smudging
  progressive
• had been smudging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will smudge
  simple
• will have smudged
  perfect
• will be smudging
  progressive
• will have been smudging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of smudge

1400–50; late Middle English smogen (v.) < ?

Explanation

When you smudge something, you smear or blur it in a messy way. If you smudge your sister's drawing after she worked so hard on it, she'll be furious. You might smudge dirt across your face when you wipe your nose after digging in the garden—and the dirty mark itself can also be called a smudge. Another kind of smudge is a smoky fire that can be used for several purposes: to disguise your location, to keep outdoor plants or trees warm, or to repel insects. The container in which a smudge is built is called a smudge pot.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

smudge smudges smudged smudging

The 22-year-old now runs his own business scrubbing every sheet metal curve and interior corner of a vehicle until there isn’t a smudge or crumb left.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

The hit was a small smudge on Bruins ace Taylor Tinsley’s line, finishing with two strikeouts and three hits across the five innings.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026

You can distort a timeline, smudge the facts, and leave others out to pursue one angle in favor of another, depending on your agenda.

From Slate ● Oct. 13, 2025

At church services across the country, clergy members will smudge crosses on parishioners’ foreheads, murmuring, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2024

To preserve his cover, Pike, who smoked a corn pipe and had a smudge of a mustache, met Hale at a concealed spot near Whizbang.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Little else was known about the 30-40 day moult, until Fretwell spotted large brown smudges in satellite pictures from 2019-2025.

From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026

It’ll leave little silver smudges like a disappointing eyeshadow.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2025

With unapologetic brio, Tortorici, cinematographer Massimiliano Kuveiller and editor Marco Costa empty out their tool kit of angles, splits, tracks, smudges, zooms, smashes, jumps, needle drops, montages and text cards.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2025

If smudges in the sky are your thing, sure, fine.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2024

Inside Cliff’s house, the electric-blue and white walls were darkened with smudges of oil and dirt.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

They’re the smart choice, even if you come across a slightly smudged crystal ball.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

Either way, the onetime roommates and bandmates pioneered a discomfiting broken-doll aesthetic of smudged eyeliner, smeared lipstick and plastic barrettes clipped to hanks of bleached-out hair.

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026

"Intensity mapping is like viewing the same scene through a smudged plane window: you get a blurrier picture, but you capture all the light and not just the brightest spots."

From Science Daily ● Mar. 8, 2026

Expect a lot of smudged mascara as the pair receive a send-off to remember.

From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2025

She stood at attention, like a frail drill sergeant, but her outlines seemed curiously smudged.

From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

The two women move around the room, burning herbs and shaking shamanic rattles while singing and chanting in a purification ritual known as "smudging".

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2025

If you want to continue smudging not all hope is lost.

From Salon ● Jan. 1, 2024

Previous attempts at putting the magazine on microfilm had resulted in barely legible pages marred by heavy black smudging, with some parts of pages missing or damaged.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 29, 2023

Researchers believe these early artists selected charcoal because it was the perfect medium, ideal for the smudging and blending techniques used in cave paintings.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 4, 2023

She rubbed her eyes, smudging her face with red from the mess on her hands.

From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

Related Words

• blacken
• daub
• spatter
• sully