smudgenoun [ C ]
uk/smʌdʒ/us/smʌdʒ/a mark with no particular shape that is caused, usually by accident, by rubbing something such as ink or a dirty finger across a surface:
Her hands were covered in dust and she had a black smudge on her nose.
figurative She said we were nearly there, but the island was still no more than a distant smudge on the horizon.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Dirt & untidiness
- a dog's breakfast idiom
- bloodstain
- blot
- clutter
- contaminant
- contaminate
- filthiness
- fleck
- grime
- gunge
- gunk
- muck
- pollutant
- slob
- slovenly
- slut
- smear
- speck
- speckle
- stain
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smudgy
adjective uk/ˈsmʌdʒ.i/us/ˈsmʌdʒ.i/
smudgeverb [ I or T ]
uk/smʌdʒ/us/smʌdʒ/If ink, paint, etc. smudges or if someone smudges it, it becomes dirty or not clear because someone or something has touched it:
She was crying and her mascara had smudged.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Spreading and scattering
- all over the place idiom
- bedaub
- bestrew
- billow
- circulate
- fan out
- go round (somewhere)
- go/do the rounds idiom
- percolate
- radial
- radiate
- slap
- spread
- spread out
- sprinkling
- straggle
- stretch
- strew
- suffuse
- sweep
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smudging
noun [ U ] uk/ˈsmʌdʒ.ɪŋ/us/ˈsmʌdʒ.ɪŋ/