Haze vs. Smoke — What's the Difference?

A suspension of fine particles or moisture in the air, obscuring clarity.

Can contain harmful substances like toxins and carcinogens.

Can obscure sunlight, reducing visibility and solar radiation.

A product of combustion, consisting of particles and gases.

Measured by air quality indices due to health implications.

Often requires immediate response to mitigate health risks.

Often results from pollution or atmospheric conditions.

Visible and often has a distinct smell depending on the burned materials.

Associated with weather phenomena like anticyclones.

Can rise or spread depending on heat and wind conditions.

Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon in which dust, smoke, and other dry particulates obscure the clarity of the sky. The World Meteorological Organization manual of codes includes a classification of horizontal obscuration into categories of fog, ice fog, steam fog, mist, haze, smoke, volcanic ash, dust, sand, and snow.

Smoke is a collection of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product of fires (including stoves, candles, internal combustion engines, oil lamps, and fireplaces), but may also be used for pest control (fumigation), communication (smoke signals), defensive and offensive capabilities in the military (smoke screen), cooking, or smoking (tobacco, cannabis, etc.).

A slight obscuration of the lower atmosphere, typically caused by fine suspended particles

A visible suspension of carbon or other particles in air, typically one emitted from a burning substance

A state of mental confusion

An act of smoking tobacco

Obscure with a haze

A big city, especially London

Force (a new or potential recruit to the military or a university fraternity) to perform strenuous, humiliating, or dangerous tasks

Emit smoke or visible vapour

Drive (cattle) while on horseback

Inhale and exhale the smoke of tobacco or a drug

Atmospheric moisture, dust, smoke, and vapor that diminishes visibility.

Treat, fumigate, or cleanse by exposure to smoke.

A partially opaque covering

Kill (someone) by shooting

A vague or confused state of mind.

Make fun of (someone)

To become misty or hazy; blur.

A mixture of gases and small suspended particles of soot or other solids, resulting from the burning of materials such as wood or coal.

To persecute or harass with meaningless, difficult, or humiliating tasks.

A cloud of such gases and suspended particles.

To initiate, as into a college fraternity, by exacting humiliating performances from or playing rough practical jokes upon.

A vapor, mist, or fume that resembles this.

Very fine solid particles (smoke, dust) or liquid droplets (moisture) suspended in the air, slightly limiting visibility. fog, mist.}}

Something insubstantial, unreal, or transitory

A reduction of transparency of a clear gas or liquid.

The act of smoking a form of tobacco

An analogous dullness on a surface that is ideally highly reflective or transparent.

The duration of this act.

(figuratively) Any state suggestive of haze in the atmosphere, such as mental confusion or vagueness of memory.

(Informal) Tobacco in a form that can be smoked, especially a cigarette

The degree of cloudiness or turbidity in a clear glass or plastic, measured in percent.

A substance used in warfare to produce a smokescreen.

Any substance causing turbidity in beer or wine.

Something used to conceal or obscure.

To be or become hazy, or thick with haze.

A pale to grayish blue to bluish or dark gray.

To perform an unpleasant initiation ritual upon a usually non-consenting individual, especially freshmen to a closed community such as a college fraternity or military unit.

(Baseball) Pitches thrown at high velocity; fast balls

To oppress or harass by forcing to do hard and unnecessary work.

To draw in and exhale smoke from a cigarette, cigar, or pipe

(transitive) In a rodeo, to assist the bulldogger by keeping (the steer) running in a straight line.

To engage in smoking regularly or habitually

(transitive) To use aversive stimuli on (a wild animal, such as a bear) to encourage it to keep its distance from humans.

To emit smoke or a smokelike substance

Light vapor or smoke in the air which more or less impedes vision, with little or no dampness; a lack of transparency in the air; hence, figuratively, obscurity; dimness.

To emit smoke excessively

A state of confusion, uncertainty, or vagueness of thought or perception; as, after the explosion, people were wandering around in a haze.

To go or proceed at high speed.

To be hazy, or thick with haze.

To play or perform energetically

To harass by exacting unnecessary, disagreeable, or difficult work.

To draw in and exhale the smoke of (tobacco, for example)

To harass or annoy by playing abusive or shameful tricks upon; to humiliate by practical jokes; - used esp. of college students, as an initiation rite into a fraternity or other group; as, the sophomores hazed a freshman.

To do so regularly or habitually

Atmospheric moisture or dust or smoke that causes reduced visibility

To preserve (meat or fish) by exposure to the aromatic smoke of burning hardwood, usually after pickling in salt or brine.

Confusion characterized by lack of clarity

To fumigate (a house, for example).

Become hazy, dull, or cloudy

To expose (animals, especially insects) to smoke in order to immobilize or drive away.

Harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions

To expose (glass) to smoke in order to darken or change its color.

To kill; murder.

To defeat decisively, as in a competition.

(Baseball) To throw (a pitch) at high velocity.

(uncountable) The visible vapor/vapour, gases, and fine particles given off by burning or smoldering material.

A cigarette.

Anything to smoke (e.g. cigarettes, marijuana, etc.)

An instance of smoking a cigarette, cigar, etc.; the duration of this act.

A fleeting illusion; something insubstantial, evanescent, unreal, transitory, or without result.

Something used to obscure or conceal; an obscuring condition; see also smoke and mirrors.

(uncountable) A light grey colour/color tinted with blue.

Bother; problems; hassle.

A particulate of solid or liquid particles dispersed into the air on the battlefield to degrade enemy ground or for aerial observation. Smoke has many uses--screening smoke, signaling smoke, smoke curtain, smoke haze, and smoke deception. Thus it is an artificial aerosol.

A fastball.

(countable) A distinct column of smoke, such as indicating a burning area or fire.

(transitive) To inhale and exhale the smoke from a burning cigarette, cigar, pipe, etc.

(intransitive) To inhale and exhale tobacco smoke.

(intransitive) To give off smoke.

(intransitive) Of a fire in a fireplace: to emit smoke outward instead of up the chimney, owing to imperfect draught.

(transitive) To preserve or prepare (food) for consumption by treating with smoke.

(transitive) To dry or medicate by smoke.

To fill or scent with smoke; hence, to fill with incense; to perfume.

To make unclear or blurry.

To perform (e.g. music) energetically or skillfully.

To beat someone at something.

To thrash; to beat.

To smell out; to hunt out; to find out; to detect.

To ridicule to the face; to mock.

To burn; to be kindled; to rage.

To raise a dust or smoke by rapid motion.

To suffer severely; to be punished.

To punish (a person) for a minor offense by excessive physical exercise.

(transitive) To cover (a key blank) with soot or carbon to aid in seeing the marks made by impressioning.

The visible exhalation, vapor, or substance that escapes, or expelled, from a burning body, especially from burning vegetable matter, as wood, coal, peat, or the like.

That which resembles smoke; a vapor; a mist.

Anything unsubstantial, as idle talk.

The act of smoking, esp. of smoking tobacco; as, to have a smoke.

To emit smoke; to throw off volatile matter in the form of vapor or exhalation; to reek.

Hence, to burn; to be kindled; to rage.

To raise a dust or smoke by rapid motion.

To draw into the mouth the smoke of tobacco burning in a pipe or in the form of a cigar, cigarette, etc.; to habitually use tobacco in this manner.

To suffer severely; to be punished.

To apply smoke to; to hang in smoke; to disinfect, to cure, etc., by smoke; as, to smoke or fumigate infected clothing; to smoke beef or hams for preservation.

To fill or scent with smoke; hence, to fill with incense; to perfume.

To smell out; to hunt out; to find out; to detect.

To ridicule to the face; to quiz.

To inhale and puff out the smoke of, as tobacco; to burn or use in smoking; as, to smoke a pipe or a cigar.

To subject to the operation of smoke, for the purpose of annoying or driving out; - often with out; as, to smoke a woodchuck out of his burrow.

A cloud of fine particles suspended in a gas

A hot vapor containing fine particles of carbon being produced by combustion;

An indication of some hidden activity;

Something with no concrete substance;

Tobacco leaves that have been made into a cylinder

Street names for marijuana

The act of smoking tobacco or other substances;

(baseball) a pitch thrown with maximum velocity;

Inhale and exhale smoke from cigarettes, cigars, pipes;

Emit a cloud of fine particles;

Smoke can cause respiratory problems, aggravate lung and heart conditions, and expose individuals to carcinogens.

Common sources include pollution, dust, and natural events like volcanic eruptions.

Measures include reducing emissions, using air purifiers, and wearing masks.

Long-term exposure can lead to chronic respiratory conditions and cardiovascular problems.

Agencies use air quality monitoring stations to measure particulate matter and other pollutants.

Staying indoors, using air purifiers, and wearing masks can help reduce smoke inhalation.

Beyond health risks, smoke can contribute to atmospheric pollution and affect climate patterns.

Wind can disperse or concentrate smoke and haze, affecting air quality over large areas.

Yes, haze and smoke can mix, especially during events like wildfires in urban areas.

Smoke is a product of combustion, while fog is made up of tiny water droplets suspended in the air.

Yes, animals can suffer health effects similar to humans and may display behavior changes due to reduced visibility and air quality.

These conditions can disrupt travel, reduce worker productivity, and affect industries such as tourism and agriculture.

Advanced meteorological models and satellite monitoring help predict the movement and intensity of smoke and haze.

Stable, anticyclonic weather can trap pollutants near the ground, forming haze.

Smoke is measured by its particulate content and chemical composition; haze is often measured by visibility and particulate concentrations.