stink
Americanverb (used without object)
-
stinks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stunk,
past participle, past
-
stank,
past
-
stinking
present participle
-
to emit a strong offensive smell.
- Synonyms:
- reek
-
to be offensive to honesty or propriety; to be in extremely bad repute or disfavor.
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Informal. to be disgustingly inferior.
That book stinks.
-
Slang. to have a large quantity of something (usually followed by of orwith ).
They stink of money. She stinks with jewelry.
verb (used with object)
-
stinks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stunk,
past participle, past
-
stank,
past
-
stinking
present participle
noun
-
stinks
plural
-
a strong offensive smell; stench.
-
Informal. an unpleasant fuss; scandal.
There was a big stink about his accepting a bribe.
-
(used with a singular verb) stinks, chemistry as a course of study.
verb phrase
noun
-
a strong foul smell; stench
-
slang a great deal of trouble (esp in the phrase to make or raise a stink )
-
intensely; furiously
verb
-
to emit a foul smell
-
slang to be thoroughly bad or abhorrent
this town stinks
-
informal to have a very bad reputation
his name stinks
-
to be of poor quality
-
slang to have or appear to have an excessive amount (of money)
-
informal to cause to stink
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
stinksimple
-
stinkssimple
-
have stunkperfect
-
has stunkperfect
-
am stinkingprogressive
-
are stinkingprogressive
-
is stinkingprogressive
-
have been stinkingperfect progressive
-
has been stinkingperfect progressive
Past
-
stanksimple
-
stunksimple
-
had stunkperfect
-
was stinkingprogressive
-
were stinkingprogressive
-
had been stinkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stink
First recorded before 900; (verb) Middle English stinken, Old English stincan; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the verb; cognate with German stinken (verb); cf. stench
Explanation
When things stink, they smell terrible. If you throw food scraps in your kitchen trash can, it will eventually start to stink. You can say that something stinks — your dog's breath, or your brother's feet — and you can call the offensive odor itself a stink. Figuratively, something can stink even if it doesn't literally smell bad: "I'm sorry, but that movie you recommended really stinks. It's awful." The Old English root is stincan, "emit a smell of any kind, or exhale."
Vocabulary lists containing stink
The Nose Knows: Olfactory Vocabulary
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Smell Words
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Words with Two Past-Tense Forms That Creeped (or Crept) into English
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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.
See Examples For:
Who on Earth would genuinely want Fielder, the human equivalent of a skunk, to crash their last moments with their loved ones as he does his darnedest to stink up the place?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
Innuendo leaves a lingering stink that’s harder to dispel.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026
So does it stink that the semiquincentennial has been such a flop?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
A commenter branded it an example of “the Backrooms,” described as “nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
“I remember it well. But I hate to tell you, the kids who make seventh grade stink, they don’t disappear in eighth or ninth grade.”
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
It stinks if you get stuck in it, but it’s also a sign of a desirable situation, of good weather and lively culture and plentiful entertainment options that include, typically, winning baseball.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
Officials who have since left office have also been accused of behavior that stinks of self-dealing.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
Scratchy and stiff, it stinks of the stale urine used to set the dye.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
But he said his finish "stinks" after posting a double-bogey for second day running.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
The supermarket chicken is raised in “a ten-thousand-bird shed that stinks to high heaven.”
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
"At the time you think it might be copper or iron washing down through the landscape but it stank and it was sort of oily all over her coat," Donna added.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
"Everything was foggy, you couldn't open the window and it stank," she said, showing a picture on her phone of an orange glow partially obscured by thick smoke clouds that had turned the air black.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
He found a place in Astana in an apartment that stank of cat.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
Black singers get it: You’re practicing the art of stank.
From New York Times ● May 25, 2023
He was without his boots and his bluish toes stank.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
For the past five years, returns have stunk, especially following a 28% tumble for the ETF since the end of October.
From Barron's ● Apr. 16, 2026
The spectator had spent most of the afternoon reminding Ohtani of how much he’d stunk in the three-game series.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2025
“It was disgusting,” she said, explaining that the walls were damp and mouldy, while the flat was dirty and stunk of cigarette smoke.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2024
At the time, Garvey was trying to organize charity sports events, which he stunk at, to put it politely.
From Slate ● May 29, 2024
And when they shut off the water first and then the power next, it stunk and the rats came, braver than the bugs, more invasive than the men.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
“These are all the struggles I think about every stinking day,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
Stafford Hopkins is good-looking, brilliant, successful and stinking rich.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Not the good, high-altitude ozone that shields us from dangerous UV light, but bad ozone, hovering right above ground level — stinking, brownish, grayish photochemical smog.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
To others, it put a stop to nights of stinging eyes and stinking clothes - and, most importantly, it saved lives.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
The ghouls sped on towards the city on the rocks, and Bod, now flung unceremoniously over the stinking shoulders of the Duke of Westminster, was carried with them.
From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman
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