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Let's say I have a room in my house with no windows, no flow of air in or out, isolated from the rest of the house, which makes it impossible to sit there.

How do I describe it? Can I uses the following sentence?

Because of no ventilation it(the room) is always very congested, so it is impossible for anyone to live there.

Is the use of congested correct in this context, or should I use some other word?

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4
  • You could say the air stagnates
    – mowwwalker
    Apr 13, 2013 at 16:25
  • What do you think about using "missing ventilation" instead of "no ventilation"?
    – Stephen
    Apr 13, 2013 at 18:10
  • @Stephen I dont see any difference between the two?
    – Max
    Apr 13, 2013 at 18:14
  • "no ventilation" just means that there is no ventilation without saying whether this is good or bad. ("No fire" burning down the house would be a good thing.) "Missing ventilation" has (to my ears) the connotation that a ventilation is wished for - you would not miss something bad, would you?
    – Stephen
    Apr 14, 2013 at 14:42

4 Answers 4

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16

Congested would imply that there is a lot of stuff in there which isn't necessarily true. Stuffy would be the word I'd use.

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4

airless

1: Stuffy; not ventilated - a dusty, airless basement
2: Without wind or breeze; still - a hot, airless night

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1

The word used by architects & builders for this is "unventilated."

Because the room is unventilated, the air stagnates quickly and no fresh air can come in to replace it, so it is impossible for anyone to live there.

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0

"Close" is also a word that describes a room without fresh air or "dank" for a damp basement. I would not use 'congested' - which usually means that there was heavy traffic on a road, or to describe your "stuffy" nose.

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