dusty Hear it!

dusty Definition

dusty (dus)

adjective dusti·er, dusti·est

  1. covered with dust; full of dust
  2. like dust; powdery
  3. muted with gray: said of a color dusty pink

Etymology: ME dusti < OE dustig

dusty Related Forms

dusti·ly adverb dusti·ness noun

dusty Synonyms

dusty

modif.

undusted, grimy, unused, untouched; see dirty 1.

dusty Usage Examples

Preposition: on

shelf: This is not some fancy business plan to go dusty on the shelf.

Adjective complement with noun phrase

get: Get those fingers dusty in among the racks or keep your fingers clean and check out their mail order section.

Modifies a noun

  • tome: While the word'museum ' might summon up images of dusty tomes and forbidding architecture, Kim Pickin's vision is far more fun.
  • attic: On the bare wooden floor in the dusty attic, Leo taps.
  • shelf: A great writer is not a man who fills our dusty shelves with his forgotten volumes.
  • recess: No longer is information held in the dusty recesses of libraries guarded by the academic librarians.
  • galaxy: Suppose however that the lens is a dusty spiral galaxy.
  • desert: To me, life seems to stretch out endlessly, like a long, dusty desert.

Modifying Another Word

  • rather: Cons: Tarmac surfaces where cars were left & collected, but not so good where cars were stored, hence returned rather dusty.
  • extremely: It should be applied more often under competition or extremely dusty conditions.
  • slightly: We found it at Azeitao, a cluster of villages that surround a slightly dusty town about 45 minutes from Lisbon.
  • very: Wrong keys given had to return them - car returned back very dusty.
  • quite: Cons: Car got quite dusty from the concrete recycling plant.
  • so: My verdict: - Not so dusty, but give me caving any time!

Used with adjective complement

  • get: You know, the crockery you haven't used for years, getting dusty in the cupboard, loft or garage.
  • become: In that day people wore sandals and their feet became quite dusty.
  • sit: There is an old telex machine in one of the offices, sitting dusty in the corner, making you think it's 1976.
  • return: Wrong keys given had to return them - car returned back very dusty.
  • go: This is not some fancy business plan to go dusty on the shelf.

Preposition: in

summer: Roads and lanes were dry and dusty in summer, and muddy morasses in the worst of the wet winter weather.