1 fuliginous | Definition of fuliginous
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fuliginous

adjective
fu·​lig·​i·​nous | \ fyu̇-ˈli-jə-nəs How to pronounce fuliginous (audio) \

Definition of fuliginous

1a : sooty
b : obscure, murky
2 : having a dark or dusky color
Other Words from fuliginous Synonyms & Antonyms Did You Know? Example Sentences Learn More about fuliginous

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Other Words from fuliginous

fuliginously adverb

Did You Know?

Fuliginous is a word with a dark and dirty past - it derives from "fuligo," the Latin word for "soot." In an early sense (now obsolete), "fuliginous" was used to describe noxious bodily vapors once thought to be produced by organic processes. The "sooty" sense, which English speakers have been using since the early 1620s, can be used to describe everything from dense fogs and malevolent clouds to overworked chimney sweeps. "Fuliginous" can also be used to refer to something dark or dusky, as in Henry James' novel The Ambassadors, in which the character Waymarsh is described as having "dark fuliginous eyes."

Examples of fuliginous in a Sentence

a fuliginous prose style that's not exactly ideal for writing for the mass media

First Known Use of fuliginous

1597, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

History and Etymology for fuliginous

borrowed from Late Latin fūlīginōsus "covered with soot," from Latin fūlīgin-, fūlīgō "soot" + -ōsus -ous fūlīgō, from fūlī- (going back to Indo-European *dhuh2-li- "smoke, dust," whence also Sanskrit dhūli- "dust," Lithuanian dū́lis "mist, dust from tree rot used to drive out bees") + -gin-, -gō, suffix denoting something coating or enveloping, usually undesirable, as rōbīgō "rust," mellīgō "bee glue"

Note: Indo-European *dhuh2-li- is usually taken to be a nominal derivative of the verbal base *dhu̯eh2- or *dheu̯h2- "produce smoke by burning"—see fume entry 1.

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More from Merriam-Webster on fuliginous

Rhyming Dictionary: Words that rhyme with fuliginous

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for fuliginous

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