Hazy Meaning
/ˈheɪzi/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjThick or obscured with haze.
adjNot clear or transparent.
Sentence Examples
The sky is a hazy shade of winter.
The air is hazy.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The view of the city was ____ because of the thick pollution.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
My memory of that day is a bit ____, as it happened many years ago when I was a child.
Word Origin & History
From earlier hawsey (1625), a nautical term of uncertain origin. Possibly from Middle English *hasi, *haswy, from Old English haswiġ (“grey; ashen; dusky”), from Old English hasu (“dusky; grey; ashen”), from Proto-Germanic *haswaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₂s- (“bright grey”). By surface analysis, haze + -y; although Modern English haze is more likely a back-formation of hazy.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Furthermore, kymographic pictures are hazy and sometimes distorted, while the pictures obtained by diagraphy are sharp and unobstructed."
— 1939, American Review of Tuberculosis and Pulmonary Diseases, page 138:
"If Philip seems less well drawn, "the character who is closest to the author is probably the haziest because the author is not able to see himself with the same clarity.""
— 1986 October 5, Phillip Lopate, “SEXUAL POLITICS, FAMILY SECRETS”, in The New York Times:
"The song’s first line is ‘‘Drop out of life with bong in hand,’’ and things only get hazier from there. ‘‘Dopesmoker’’ tells the story of a caravan of ‘‘weed-priests’’ traveling across the ‘‘sand-sea’’ in search of the ‘‘riff-filled land’’ so as to fulfill their ‘‘desert legion smoke-covenant.’’"
— 2016 January 21, David Rees, “Letter of Recommendation: Sleep, ‘Dopesmoker’”, in The New York Times Magazine:
"It's the craft beer style that has taken the brewing world, and the Internet, by storm. But what exactly is a hazy?"
— 2020 June 24, Molly Allen, “Hazy Beer 101: What Goes into That Instagrammable Pint”, in Sip Magazine, archived from the original on 06 May 2021:
"Hazies are a softer, slinkier IPA that swap the pinecone sharpness of a West Coast IPA for bright citrus. I've heard some drinkers complain that they taste like orange juice—the cloudy appearance means hazies often look like orange juice, too."
— 2024, Liz Cook, “Why I Do Not Care What Beer Geeks Think About Hazy IPAs”, in Kansas City Magazine, archived from the original on 19 Jun 2024:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The view of the city was ____ because of the thick pollution.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
My memory of that day is a bit ____, as it happened many years ago when I was a child.