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.
Human waste spilled out of the overflowing communal latrines near Nyariaka’s house and into the fetid water filling the culverts.
From Salon • Dec. 16, 2025
The optimist notes that Baltimore’s division, the AFC North, is in a fetid state at the moment, with Aaron Rodgers and the strangely 3-1 Steelers coasting over the moribund Ravens, Cleveland and Cincinnati.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 6, 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
People buy dwindling jugs from municipal sanitation stations, scour for bottles in supermarkets or drink whatever fetid liquid may dribble out of their pipes.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 14, 2023
It was a nauseating smell, both fetid and sickly sweet, thick in the dusk as it filled Koffi's lungs.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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.
