Definition

Noun: A smokestack is a large, tall, vertical pipe or structure, typically made of brick or metal, designed to carry combustion gases and smoke away from a furnace, boiler, industrial plant, or steam locomotive and release them high into the atmosphere.

Usage

The word smokestack is used to refer to the prominent chimney structure of industrial facilities. It is a countable noun.

Examples

• The old factory's red brick smokestack dominated the skyline for decades.
• Environmental regulations require filters to be installed on industrial smokestacks to reduce pollution.
• A plume of white steam rose from the ship's smokestack.

Advanced Usage

• "Smokestack industry": A term for traditional heavy manufacturing industries, such as steel or chemical production, which are characterized by large factories with prominent smokestacks.
  • The region's economy once relied heavily on smokestack industries.
• The term can be used metaphorically to symbolize industrialization, pollution, or a bygone industrial era.

Variants and Related Words

• Chimney (noun): A more general term for a structure that provides ventilation for hot flue gases or smoke from a fireplace, furnace, or boiler. A smokestack is a type of large industrial chimney.
• Flue (noun): A duct, pipe, or opening for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, furnace, or generator.
• Stack (noun): A common shortened, informal form of "smokestack."
  • The power plant's stack was visible for miles.

Synonyms

• Chimney
• Funnel (especially on a ship)
• Stack

Antonyms

There are no direct antonyms, as it is a specific physical object. Contextual opposites might include vent (a smaller opening for air passage) or scrubber (a pollution control device attached to a smokestack).

Related Phrases

• Smokestack emissions: The gases and particulates released from a smokestack.
  • The company is working to minimize its smokestack emissions.
• Under the smokestack: An idiom describing the area or communities located near heavy industry.
  • Many families lived and worked under the smokestack of the mill.

Noun

1. a large tall chimney through which combustion gases and smoke can be evacuated