stinker
Americannoun
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stinkers
plural
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a person or thing that stinks.
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Informal. a mean or despicable person; louse.
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Informal. something, especially some form of entertainment, of inferior quality.
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Informal. something difficult.
a real stinker of a crossword puzzle.
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any device emitting an offensive odor, as a stink bomb or stinkpot.
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Dialect. any of several large petrels.
noun
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a person or thing that stinks
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slang a difficult or very unpleasant person or thing
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slang something of very poor quality
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informal any of several fulmars or related birds that feed on carrion
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of stinker
1600–10; 1920–25 stinker for def. 2; stink + -er 1
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:
Darnold is long overdue for another stinker, and it will happen here against a Mike Vrabel-coached defense that will simply outsmart him and defensive-minded Seahawks’ coach Mike Macdonald.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
When Cook returned to England for the 2010 summer, the left-hander had a "stinker".
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2025
“I wouldn’t spend two more seconds thinking about what happened in that game,” Harbaugh said of Herbert’s four-interception stinker in a loss to the Houston Texas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2025
Those went nowhere because the song was a stinker.
From Salon ● May 8, 2024
Then that stinker Paulie T. said, “I’m still mad, and don’t think I’m forgetting anything, Ida B. And I’m not too sure about forgiving, either.”
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
Yes, I had a few stinkers, but also some really good ones.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
And yes, he helped write some serious stinkers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2025
And that's really saying something because, as I've mentioned in the past, I thought Season 6, "Roanoke," and Season 9, "1984," were real stinkers.
From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2022
That’s led to a trio of stinkers for Robinson, who has scored a combined 15.3 points in his last three contests.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 19, 2022
I think I might enjoy writing end-of-term reports for the stinkers in my class.
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
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.
