smog

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“
The term smog was first used in 1905 to describe the conditions of fog that had soot or smoke in it.

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Fog that has become mixed and polluted with smoke.
  2. noun A form of air pollution produced by the photochemical reaction of sunlight with hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides that have been released into the atmosphere, especially by automotive emissions.
  3. Word History
    New phenomena require new words, so it is not surprising that smog is a relatively recent coinage. The word followed the phenomenon by perhaps half a century, for air pollution was first noticed during the Industrial Revolution. The word smog is first recorded in 1905 in a newspaper report of a meeting of the Public Health Congress. Dr. H.A. des Vœux gave a paper entitled "Fog and Smoke,” in which, in the words of the Daily Graphic of July 26, "he said it required no science to see that there was something produced in great cities which was not found in the country, and that was smoky fog, or what was known as 'smog.'” The next day the Globe remarked that "Dr. des Vœux did a public service in coining a new word for the London fog.”

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Examples (50)

  • For example: readers of Verbatim would probably know that smog is a combination of what?
  • Here the smog was the densest The bronze man moved a lever. —  033 - Murder Melody
  • Then since oil and gas release hydrocarbons into the air and water, and those produce smog which is very toxic, we'll have to stop all use of those dangerous, polluting materials. —  Analog May, 1971
  • The doorman at the hotel had warned me that the smog was at a record level today; it blurred the details of the surrounding spires and made indistinct the figures of people on the sidewalk of Wilshire Boulevard, some forty-eight stories below. —  Muller, Marcia - 19 The Broken Promise Land.htm
  • The term smog was first used in 1905 to describe the conditions of fog that had soot or smoke in it. —  Lahore Metblogs
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