stuffy air
- noun
- /ˈstʌfi ɛr/
:
aire viciado
- Whether it was because of the tasteless manner in which everything was arranged, because of the ugly furniture, or the stuffy air, I don't know, but I scarcely dared look around me anymore.
Examples
-
The stuffy air soaked up the silence while she watched him without moving.
Fiction book (2002) -
It was cold on the floor, the wall was cold against her bare skin, and the fan whirred to replace the stuffy air.
Fiction book (1995) -
The stuffy air in the crowded elevator made everyone feel uncomfortable.
-
After cooking, the stuffy air in the kitchen needed to be freshened with a window open.
-
On hot summer days, stuffy air can make it hard to breathe comfortably indoors.
Synonyms
2
2.8
Air that smells old and feels heavy
1
9.9
Stuffy, smoky air in a room that feels unpleasant to breathe
1
4.1
Air in a room that feels heavy and not fresh
Antonyms
How Stuffy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'air that is unpleasant because it is warm and does not have enough fresh air circulating' is directly and transparently composed from 'stuffy' (lacking fresh air/ventilation) + 'air' (the atmosphere). This simple adjective+noun combination follows regular English composition patterns and would be clear to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Stuffy air comes from the image of a closed room where windows are shut and many people are breathing the same warm air. In that scene the air feels heavy and hard to breathe, so it is called stuffy, and that's why stuffy air means 'air that is unpleasant because it is warm and does not have enough fresh air'.