adjective
-
(esp of smells) offensive
-
harmful or noxious
Other Word Forms
- noisomely adverb
- noisomeness noun
Etymology
Origin of noisome
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English noy (aphetic variant of annoy ) + -some 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.
From a commercial standpoint, the companies have been reluctant to get in the way of the torrent, unless it’s so noisome that it crosses an inescapable line.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 13, 2022
This is my new spiritual home, and the more I learn about it, the more I find myself unable to bear the noisome sunlight of the United States.
From Washington Post • Aug. 11, 2021
“You want truthful sentences?” she asks in the new novel, after a noisome litany of them rolls off her tongue.
From New York Times • Apr. 26, 2017
Media scholar Tim Wu plunges into the noisome history of “attention harvesting” — the commodification of human attention by industry and government.
From Nature • Oct. 11, 2016
There was a faint hiss, a noisome smell went up, the lights flickered and danced and swirled.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
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.
