fetid

or foet·id

[ fet-id, fee-tid ]
See synonyms for fetid on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. having an offensive odor; stinking.

Origin of fetid

1
1590–1600; <Latin fētidus, equivalent to fēt- (stem of fētēre to stink) + -idus-id4

Other words for fetid

Other words from fetid

  • fet·id·ly, adverb
  • fet·id·ness, fe·tid·i·ty, noun

Words Nearby fetid

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use fetid in a sentence

  • Inside the cafs men and women, old and young, are dancing in the fetid atmosphere to jingling pianos or accordions.

    Belgium | George W. T. (George William Thomson) Omond
  • The passageway was growing damper; water trickled down the walls and gathered in fetid pools on the floor.

    Star Born | Andre Norton
  • Worse than this, though—I fancied I noticed about the room in the morning that strange, fetid odour.

  • The fetid odor exhaled from the corpse caused a pestilence involving thousands of deaths.

  • The residue was oily and fetid ashes, with a greasy soot, of a very penetrating and disagreeable smell.

British Dictionary definitions for fetid

fetid

foetid

/ (ˈfɛtɪd, ˈfiː-) /


adjective
  1. having a stale nauseating smell, as of decay

Origin of fetid

1
C16: from Latin fētidus, from fētēre to stink; related to fūmus smoke

Derived forms of fetid

  • fetidly or foetidly, adverb
  • fetidness or foetidness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012