soot-black

Thân thiện

The chimney sweep's face was smudged with soot-black streaks.

Definition

Adjective: - Having the deep, dark black color characteristic of soot; a pure, intense black often with a matte or dirty quality, like the carbon residue from smoke.

Usage

This adjective is used to describe the color of an object, comparing it directly to the blackness of soot. It is typically placed before a noun or used after a linking verb like "be" or "seem."

Examples

• The soot-black chimney needed a thorough cleaning.
• After the fire, the walls were stained soot-black.
• He wiped his hands, leaving soot-black marks on the cloth.

Advanced Usage

• Descriptive Figurative Use: Can be used metaphorically to describe something as being extremely dark, morally stained, or grim.
  • The villain's heart was described as soot-black.
• Comparative and Superlative Forms: While "soot-black" itself is a compound adjective, one might say "more soot-black" or "most soot-black" for comparison, though this is rare. The simpler "black as soot" is a more common comparative phrase.

Variants and Related Words

• Sooty (adj): Covered with or resembling soot; blackened.
  • The miner's face was sooty.
• Jet-black (adj): A very deep, glossy black, often compared to the mineral jet.
• Pitch-black (adj): Completely dark or black, like pitch (tar).

Synonyms

• Inky: Deeply black, like ink.
• Ebony: A deep, dark black, like the wood.
• Charcoal: A dark grayish-black.

Antonyms

• Snow-white: Pure white.
• Ivory: A creamy white color.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Black as soot: An idiom serving as a simile to describe something as very black.
  • The old kettle was black as soot from years of use over the open fire.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. of the black color of soot

Từ đồng nghĩa

• sooty-black