fusty

Everyday

1. Smelling stale, damp and old, like a room shut up for a long time. tree →
2. Old-fashioned and dull in ideas: «fusty old rules». tree →

In the lessons

Stories use «fusty» for attics, old libraries, cellars and closed-up houses; Mole's little home, shut all winter, might smell fusty when he returns. In everyday life: «Open the window, it's fusty in here!» Close words: musty, stuffy.

Examples

• The old attic smelled fusty. tree →
• Open a window – it's fusty in here. tree →
• We found fusty old books in a trunk. tree →
• The museum was full of fusty glass cases. tree →
• The school had some fusty old rules nobody followed. tree →
• His coat smelled fusty after a year in the cupboard. tree →

Note

Comparative: fustier, fustiest. Close in meaning to «musty».