stinky
Americanadjective
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having a foul smell
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informal unpleasant or disgusting
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informal of poor quality; contemptible
Etymology
Origin of stinky
Explanation
Stinky things smell bad. If your gym uniform is particularly stinky after a game of volleyball, you should probably wash it. You might describe the gorgonzola cheese your sister loves as stinky. She, on the other hand, may object to your favorite perfume, describing it as stinky. Besides bad odors, the informal adjective stinky can also describe generally bad or rotten things: "You did a stinky job of cleaning the kitchen after you baked all that bread. There's flour everywhere!"
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.
Her first title was “The Stinky Sneakers Contest,” a book with illustrations by Cat Bowman Smith and published in 1992.
From Washington Post • Mar. 31, 2023
Stinky or fragrant, Italian or French, yellow or off-white.
From Salon • Jan. 25, 2023
Stinky Bay, Crazy Mary's Hole and Nuncle Dicks may be familiar names to those who live nearby, but they would rarely appear on any map.
From BBC • Jul. 21, 2021
Stinky, Runt and Claudette spring into action when rogue wolves threaten the royal bears.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2020
He soon had her calling the ship the Stinky Steward, though she got somewhat wroth with him whenever he called Pretty Bacon.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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.
