smudgy

American  

[smuhj-ee] / ˈsmʌdʒ i /

adjective

smudgier, smudgiest

1. marked with smudges; smeared; smeary.

2. emitting a stifling smoke; smoky.

3. British Dialect. humid; sweltering; sultry.

---

smudgy British  

/ smʌdʒɪ /

adjective

1. smeared, blurred, or soiled, or likely to become so

2. made deliberately indistinct or cloudy

   smudgy colours

---

Other Word Forms

• smudgily adverb
• smudginess noun

Etymology

Origin of smudgy

First recorded in 1840–50; smudge + -y ¹

Example Sentences

This is especially apparent in Act Two, when the cramped stage renders the comic choreography smudgy.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 10, 2025

The cookies had stuck to one another, and when I pried them apart, I was left with smudgy cookies with sad, pink bald spots showing through the coating.

From Washington Post • Sep. 6, 2022

Diop’s voice-over guides us through smudgy, decades-old home videos that she scans for traces of her mother, who only appears fleetingly, at the edges.

From New York Times • Jun. 23, 2022

Grid View Photos in bright daylight look fine, and even moderately low light images look good enough for social media, though images in very low light are a smudgy mess of noise reduction.

From The Verge • Feb. 2, 2022

Jinny felt herself cutting across the beach alone, carrying her limp bundle beneath the smudgy sky.

From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder