fetid
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- fetidity noun
- fetidly adverb
- fetidness noun
Etymology
Origin of fetid
1590–1600; < Latin fētidus, equivalent to fēt- (stem of fētēre to stink) + -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.
On the way to a fancy ball, his gallant attempt to guide his date past a fetid puddle ends with him splashing her “from head to foot with that filthy water.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026
But the plants that seem the most out of place — as if they belonged in some distant jungle, not the rural Midwest — are the more fetid flowers.
From Salon • May 27, 2025
It is all too easy to find yourself submerged in fetid water, or sucked into a slurry of thick, black mud.
From National Geographic • Feb. 16, 2024
The report was issued just days after another monitor found the jail complex forced detainees to live in damp, fetid quarters infested with mold, vermin and other “generally unsanitary” conditions.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 10, 2023
Sharp, short blasts of fetid breath pushed through a metal cylinder through the scruff of a combed-down moustache.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
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.
