smut
1 of 2verb
ˈsmət 
smutted; smutting
transitive verb
1
: to stain or taint with smut
2
: to affect (a crop or plant) with smut
intransitive verb
: to become affected by smut
smut
2 of 2noun
1
: matter that soils or blackens
specifically : a particle of soot
2
: any of various destructive diseases especially of cereal grasses caused by parasitic basidiomycetous fungi (order Ustilaginales) and marked by transformation of plant parts into dark masses of spores
also : a fungus causing a smut
3
: obscene language or matter
Synonyms
Noun
- crud
- dirt
- filth
- grime
- gunk
- muck
- soil
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Noun Smut is not allowed in this house. obscenity laws that aimed to stamp out smut
Recent Examples on the Web
Tom Nolan, WSJ, 27 May 2022 The prized delicacy can be found on tostadas at Tumerico in Tucson, where where the restaurant also sells the corn smut in jars. Priscilla Totiyapungprasert, The Arizona Republic, 25 Mar. 2022 An upstart feminist starts a revolutionary magazine after partnering with a publisher who specializes in smut in the new trailer for the upcoming HBO Max series, Minx, premiering on March 17. Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 3 Mar. 2022 Spicy BookTok is the sister kingdom to the smut queens of Bookstagram. Jenny Singer, Glamour, 14 Feb. 2022 The upshot seems both obvious and hard to argue with: In a society with so much to answer for, so much real indecency and genuine cause for moral outrage, why the uproar over a few minutes of amateur smut? Los Angeles Times, 26 Nov. 2021 This phrase is applied to newspapers which delight in sensations, crime, scandal, smut, funny pictures, caricatures and malicious or frivolous gossip about persons and things of no public concern. Nicholas Lemann, The New York Review of Books, 27 Feb. 2020 This phrase is applied to newspapers which delight in sensations, crime, scandal, smut, funny pictures, caricatures and malicious or frivolous gossip about persons and things of no public concern. Nicholas Lemann, The New York Review of Books, 27 Feb. 2020 The grill turned a Caesar salad into a dank brown and green mess unrecognizable as a Caesar or a salad, and a stiff, dry rabbit roulade came with a huitlacoche custard that sapped its namesake of its corn-smut funkiness. Mike Sutter, San Antonio Express-News, 8 July 2021 See More
Noun
More cases take the detective’s attention: a teenage girl is found slain in a park; a smut peddler falls to death from a roof. Tom Nolan, WSJ, 27 May 2022 The prized delicacy can be found on tostadas at Tumerico in Tucson, where where the restaurant also sells the corn smut in jars. Priscilla Totiyapungprasert, The Arizona Republic, 25 Mar. 2022 An upstart feminist starts a revolutionary magazine after partnering with a publisher who specializes in smut in the new trailer for the upcoming HBO Max series, Minx, premiering on March 17. Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 3 Mar. 2022 Spicy BookTok is the sister kingdom to the smut queens of Bookstagram. Jenny Singer, Glamour, 14 Feb. 2022 The upshot seems both obvious and hard to argue with: In a society with so much to answer for, so much real indecency and genuine cause for moral outrage, why the uproar over a few minutes of amateur smut? Los Angeles Times, 26 Nov. 2021 This phrase is applied to newspapers which delight in sensations, crime, scandal, smut, funny pictures, caricatures and malicious or frivolous gossip about persons and things of no public concern. Nicholas Lemann, The New York Review of Books, 27 Feb. 2020 This phrase is applied to newspapers which delight in sensations, crime, scandal, smut, funny pictures, caricatures and malicious or frivolous gossip about persons and things of no public concern. Nicholas Lemann, The New York Review of Books, 27 Feb. 2020 The grill turned a Caesar salad into a dank brown and green mess unrecognizable as a Caesar or a salad, and a stiff, dry rabbit roulade came with a huitlacoche custard that sapped its namesake of its corn-smut funkiness. Mike Sutter, San Antonio Express-News, 8 July 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
Verb
probably alteration of earlier smot to stain, from Middle English smotten; akin to Middle High German smutzen to stain
First Known Use
Verb
1587, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1
Noun
1664, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing smut
Kids Definition
smut
noun
ˈsmət
1
: something (as a particle of soot) that soils or blackens
2
: a destructive disease of plants (as cereal grasses) that is caused by a fungus
3
: a fungus that causes smut
Medical Definition
smut
noun
ˈsmət
: any of various destructive diseases especially of cereal grasses caused by parasitic fungi (order Ustilaginales)
also : a fungus causing a smut
smutting
verb
as in smearing
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- smearing
- dirtying
- blackening
- polluting
- besmirching
- smudging
- besmearing
- soiling
- discoloring
- blurring
- smirching
- staining
- touching
- debauching
- degrading
- tainting
- tarnishing
- sullying
- darkening
- clouding
- shaming
- spoiling
- tarring
- poisoning
- vitiating
- depraving
- disgracing
- debasing
- subverting
- marring
- demeaning
- begriming
- dishonoring
- abasing
- fouling
- blemishing
- demoralizing
- discrediting
- corrupting
- lowering
- bastardizing
- cheapening
- sinking
- coloring
- distorting
- twisting
- perverting
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- cleansing
- purifying
- elevating
- uplifting
- magnifying
- glorifying
- enshrining
- dignifying
- ennobling
- hallowing