Definition of "smut" [smut]

• A particle of dirt. (noun)
• A smudge made by soot, smoke, or dirt. (noun)
• Obscenity in speech or writing. (noun)
• Pornography. (noun)
• Any of various plant diseases, especially of cereal grasses, caused by parasitic fungi of the order Ustilaginales that form black powdery masses of spores on the affected parts. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Would the new religious conservatives ban what they call smut from every legal avenue of public acquisition and jail those who get caught publishing or peddling it?"
• "These emails run the gamut from your standard email chain smut to greatly disturbing racist imagery."
• "I think smut is definitely on the rise-a distraction from the serious issues we all face together."