adjective
-
(esp of smells) offensive
-
harmful or noxious
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of noisome
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English noy (aphetic variant of annoy ) + -some 1
Explanation
If you accidentally leave half a sandwich under your bed for a few days, cover your nose while you sleep because it will probably become quite noisome. This is a fancy way of saying that it will stink. Despite that first syllable, this adjective doesn’t have root origins in the word noise; instead, it is related to the word annoy. Noisome can refer to anything unpleasant or anything that makes you feel a bit nauseous. However, it is most often used to describe things that smell badly. So spray some air freshener, open the windows, and clean out under your bed!
Vocabulary lists containing noisome
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Frankenstein
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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.
Noisome chemicals and tear gas proved as repellent to the courier as to the cur.
From Time Magazine Archive
Noisome applause greeted this oration, but even louder salvos, from auditors of both persuasions, greeted the next speaker, Lawyer Malone of the defense.
From Time Magazine Archive
Noisome and noisy are as different as your nose and your ear.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
Noisome insects Here are engender'd; Fatal darkness Veils their malice.
From The Poems of Goethe Translated in the original metres by Bowring, Edgar Alfred
Noisome legislative deals, heretofore blanketed by respectability, were laid bare in exposed horror.
From The Lash by Lyman, Olin L.
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.
