mustiness.

A stale smell associated with dampness, poor ventilation, or long storage.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• mustiness of a room
• lingering mustiness

On the page

Lingering mustiness greeted them at the cellar door.

Usage notes

Primary category: sensory / description. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description. Commonness: moderately common.