Smoky Meaning
/ˈsmoʊki/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjFilled with smoke.
adjFilled with smoke., Filled with or enveloped in tobacco smoke.
Sentence Examples
Let this smoky air out of the room and let some fresh air in.
The atmosphere in the room was hot and smoky.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the fire was put out, the room was filled with ____ air that made us cough.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The campfire gave the grilled vegetables a delicious ____ flavor that everyone enjoyed.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English smoky, smokie, equivalent to smoke + -y.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Some sate turning of spits, and the place being all smoaky, made me thinke on hell, for the ioynts of meat lay as if they had bene broyling in the infernall fier […]"
— 1608, Thomas Dekker, The Belman of London, London: Nathaniell Butter:
"[We] never had better fires in England, then in the dry, ſmoaky houſes of Kecoughtan: […]"
— 1624, Richard Pots; William Tankard; G. P.; William Simons, compiler, “Chap. VIII. Captaine Smiths Iourney to Pamavnkee.”, in Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, 3rd booke, page 74:
"[…] even the smoky air of one of the most smoky streets of the suburbs is chearful, and salubrious, to the oppression I felt in the chamber we have just left […]"
— 1775, Samuel Jackson Pratt, “A Moral, and Sentimental Excursion”, in Liberal Opinions, upon Animals, Man, and Providence, volume 2, London: G. Robinson and J. Bew, page 143:
"“Say, little coon, let’s see you hit a step for the boys! […]”
“I can’t,” Sandy said, frowning instead of smiling, and growing warm as he stood there in the smoky circle of grinning white men. “I don’t know how to dance.”"
— 1930, Langston Hughes, chapter 20, in Not Without Laughter, New York: Scribner, published 1995, page 214:
"In the evenings he argued the toss at smoky meetings in pubs and school halls."
— 1974, John le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, London: Pan Books, published 1975, Part 2, Chapter 17, p. 134:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the fire was put out, the room was filled with ____ air that made us cough.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The campfire gave the grilled vegetables a delicious ____ flavor that everyone enjoyed.