smudging

British

/ ˈsmʌdʒɪŋ /

noun

a traditional Native American method of using smoke from burning herbs to purify a space

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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smudging

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

Harrell’s proposal preserves the basic framework of the urban village strategy, while at the same time renaming them, smudging their boundaries and targeting additional areas for development.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 5, 2024

While this wellness practice has been popularized by wellness gurus and witchy social media influencers, smudging sage originated with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

From Salon ● Jan. 1, 2024

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

Fans her hand above the page to avoid smudging the letters.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023