rancid
Americanadjective
-
having a rank, unpleasant, stale smell or taste, as through decomposition, especially of fats or oils.
rancid butter.
-
(of an odor or taste) rank, unpleasant, and stale.
a rancid smell.
-
offensive or nasty; disagreeable.
adjective
-
(of butter, bacon, etc) having an unpleasant stale taste or smell as the result of decomposition
-
(of a taste or smell) rank or sour; stale
Other Word Forms
- rancidity noun
- rancidly adverb
- rancidness noun
- unrancid adjective
Etymology
Origin of rancid
1640–50; < Latin rancidus rank, stinking, equivalent to ranc ( ēre ) to be rotten + -idus -id 4
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Our noses told us, first, that the place was filthy: somewhere plumbing had backed up, the bedding was soiled and rancid.
From Literature
In an instant he took in a ruined face as rough as tree bark; waist-length hair matted with filth; a rancid cape of slimy yellow reeds.
From Literature
“Such a clever boy,” said the miller, adding sugar to his oily voice, but instead of sweet he sounded rancid.
From Literature
Reports are already emerging from the South Texas Family Residential Center an hour south of San Antonio, which ICE uses to house children slated for removal from this country, of rancid food and overcrowded cells.
From Los Angeles Times
As I completed them, I began to notice that my heels of bread grew larger; my ration of watery soup contained a stringy piece of vegetable, or sometimes a hunk of rancid meat.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
