Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Covered with or as if with soot: Describes something that is blackened or dirty from a fine black powder produced by burning.
   • Of a very dark black color: Describes a color that is deep, dark black, similar to that of soot, jet, or coal.

Usage and Examples

• Adjective:
  • The sooty walls of the old fireplace needed cleaning. (The walls were blackened by smoke and ash.)
  • After the fire, the rescue workers emerged with sooty faces. (Their faces were covered in black dust from the burnt materials.)
  • The bird had sooty black feathers. (The bird's feathers were a deep, dark black color.)

Advanced Usage

• "Sooty" as a descriptor for atmosphere or mood: While less common, it can be used metaphorically to describe something dark, gloomy, or grim.
  • The novel painted a sooty picture of life in the industrial city. (It depicted a dark and grim picture.)

Variants and Related Words

• Soot (n): The black powdery or flaky substance consisting largely of carbon, produced by the incomplete burning of organic matter.
  • Chimneys need to be cleaned to remove soot.
• Sootiness (n): The state or quality of being sooty.
  • The sootiness of the air was a health concern.

Synonyms

• Blackened: Made black or dark, especially by smoke or dirt.
• Grimy: Covered with or characterized by grime; dirty.
• Jet-black: Of a deep, glossy black color.
• Coal-black: Intensely black.

Antonyms

• Spotless: Absolutely clean or pure.
• Immaculate: Perfectly clean, neat, or tidy.
• Snowy: Of the color of snow; very white.

Adjective

1. covered with or as if with soot
   • a sooty chimney
2. of the blackest black; similar to the color of jet or coal