dustier; dustiest
1
: covered or abounding with dust
2
: consisting of dust : powdery
3
: resembling dust
4
: lacking vitality : dry
dusty scholarship
5
British : unsatisfactory
used especially in the phrases dusty answer and not so dusty
dustily adverb
dustiness noun

Examples of dusty in a Sentence

He pulled dusty candlesticks from the shelf. His new tie is a dusty blue.
Recent Examples on the Web Unlike the Serengeti or the Mara, Amboseli is for much of the year an arid, dusty place. Paul Brady, Travel + Leisure, 23 Mar. 2024 Grab it in four colors besides white: dusty purple, powder blue, navy, and black. Alyssa Brascia, Peoplemag, 22 Mar. 2024 Mizrahi went back to the music, and came up with a rich color palette of dusty magentas, mossy greens, and mustard-y yellows anchored by bright poppy red, lavenders, and orange-y oranges. Vogue, 21 Mar. 2024 This week, three laborers were killed and two others injured by yet another mine, leaving a truck split in half and human remains scattered across a dusty road. Keegan Hamilton, Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2024 Rows of junked or used clothes line hangers, with a graveyard of dusty shoes collecting outside. Jonah Gercke, SPIN, 15 Mar. 2024 Turning off a dusty stretch of Highway 200, past the small agricultural villages of Higuera Blanca and José María Morelos, the 3,000-acre world of Xala begins. Meagan Drillinger, Travel + Leisure, 13 Mar. 2024 In Love Lies Bleeding, which is largely fun but also relentlessly intense, Glass shifts her gaze to a small, dusty town in 1980s New Mexico, where everyone sports either a mullet, a handgun, or both. David Sims, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2024 On a dusty Monday afternoon, the hallways of the Kourtrajmé film school buzz with nervous chatter and excitement. Ayen Deng Bior, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dusty.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of dusty was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near dusty

Cite this Entry

“Dusty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dusty. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

dusty

adjective
dustier; dustiest
1
: filled or covered with dust
2
: resembling dust
dusty soil
dustily adverb
dustiness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on dusty

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