ashy

adjective

ˈa-shē 

ashier; ashiest

1

: covered with or containing ashes

ashy smoke

ashy residue

ashy soil

the ashy remains of the burned building

… the forest opened up into a giant burn scar, with the blackened skeletons of trees stretching down an ashy hillside.

—Morgan McFall-Johnsen

2

a

: suggestive of or resembling ashes (as in color)

ashy grays

an ashy smell/taste

She wore her hair down in long ashy blonde waves that reached her hips.

—Alyssa K. Davis

especially : very pale (as from fright or illness) : ashen

Symptoms that clinicians should advise their patients to look out for include slowed breathing and skin turning ashy or blue.

—Maya Yang

b

African American English : of or relating to the grayish or whitish appearance of very dry skin

—used especially to describe this condition in people with a skin pigmentation that is darker than what is typically considered white (see white entry 1 sense 2a)

Ashy skin is caused by a lack of moisture, which leaves your skin dehydrated. It can appear on essentially any part of your skin. It's also common for the skin on your arms, legs, and face to become dehydrated and ashy.

—Eleesha Lockett

Vaseline has long been a staple in Black medicine cabinets, healing everything from chapped lips to ashy elbows.

—Angela Johnson

Excessively cleaning my hands could result in dry, cracked skin, but I've been able to prevent them from becoming chapped and ashy with my arsenal of moisturizing hand creams and balms.

—Jennifer Ford

Synonyms

• ashen
• blanched
• cadaverous
• doughy
• livid
• lurid
• mealy
• pale
• paled
• pallid
• pasty
• peaked
• wan

Examples of ashy in a Sentence

paramedics knew she was in shock because she was ashy and shaking

Recent Examples on the Web

More than 12,000 structures have been destroyed, many of them homes and businesses that are reduced to ashy foundation footprints. —Ella Nilsen, CNN, 16 Jan. 2025

But the ongoing Eaton fire and its ashy aftermath don’t appear to be offering the ending the nursery’s owners had in mind. —Jeanette Marantos, Los Angeles Times, 15 Jan. 2025

But there is more to this than sweaty handshakes and awkward small talk over ashy coffee. —Cherie Kloss, Forbes, 15 Jan. 2025

The ball drop draws on a maritime tradition Ochs asked the Times' chief electrician, Walter Palmer, to come up with a New Year's Eve spectacle that didn't involve ashy firework debris raining down on revelers. —Rachel Treisman, NPR, 31 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

ashy

adjective

ˈash-ē 

ashier; ashiest

1

: of, relating to, or resembling ashes

2

: ashen sense 2