smudge
noun · verb
Simple meaning
To obscure by blurring.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
smuhjIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsmʌdʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A smoky fire to drive away insects
us
A heap of damp combustibles partially ignited and burning slowly, placed on the windward side of a house, tent, etc. to keep off mosquitoes or other insects.
Dense smoke, such as that used for fumigation.
A blemish or smear, especially a dark or sooty one.
(paganism, especially in the phrase "smudge stick" = "stick of incense") A quantity of herbs used in suffumigation.
verb
To obscure by blurring; to smear.
To soil or smear with dirt.
To use dense smoke to protect from insects.
To stifle or smother with smoke.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A smoky fire to drive away insects
Used this way, smudge is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use smudge
- “He had a smudge on his cheek.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.