sooty

Everyday

1. Sooty means covered with soot, the black powder left by smoke from burning coal, wood or oil. tree →
2. Sooty means black or very dark, like soot. tree →
3. Sooty is the name of a yellow glove-puppet bear with black ears on a long-running British children's TV show. tree →

In the lessons

In history and science lessons sooty chimneys and faces belong to the age of coal, when chimney sweeps (sometimes children) cleaned chimneys. In nature it names animals such as the sooty tern and sooty owl. Phrases: sooty chimney, sooty face, sooty black.

Examples

• The chimney sweep had a sooty face and hands. tree →
• The old fireplace was sooty and dusty. tree →
• After the bonfire our clothes smelled smoky and looked sooty. tree →
• Sooty smoke poured from the factory chimney. tree →
• The cat had sooty paws after exploring the coal shed. tree →
• A sooty owl lives in the forests of Australia. tree →
• Granny remembers watching Sooty on TV. tree →

Note

Soot is uncountable; sooty is its adjective. Comparative sootier, sootiest (y becomes i). Sooty air is bad for lungs: that is why coal fires are now limited in cities.