smudge

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

You can distort a timeline, smudge the facts, and leave others out to pursue one angle in favor of another, depending on your agenda.

From Slate • Oct. 13, 2025

I saw Trevor around the gym for months — scattered tattoos and black tank top with a cute smudge of climbing chalk on their ears.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 25, 2024

At church services across the country, clergy members will smudge crosses on parishioners’ foreheads, murmuring, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

From New York Times • Feb. 14, 2024

She remembers one such occasion: "The producers made me put water on my eyes and smudge my mascara… and made it look like I was crying. That was a total set-up."

From BBC • Jan. 26, 2024

There was a smudge of soot there, spreading up onto the fins.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam