skunk
Americannoun
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a small North American mammal, Mephitis mephitis, of the weasel family, having a black coat with a white, V -shaped stripe on the back, and ejecting a fetid odor when alarmed or attacked.
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any of several related or similar animals.
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Informal. a thoroughly contemptible person.
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U.S. Navy Slang. an unidentified ship or target.
verb (used with object)
noun
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any of various American musteline mammals of the subfamily Mephitinae, esp Mephitis mephitis ( striped skunk ), typically having a black and white coat and bushy tail: they eject an unpleasant-smelling fluid from the anal gland when attacked
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informal a despicable person
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slang a strain of cannabis smoked for its exceptionally powerful psychoactive properties
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of skunk
1625–35, < the Massachusett reflex of Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa (derivative of *šek- urinate + -a·kw fox, foxlike animal
Explanation
A skunk is a small black and white animal that defends itself with a stinky fluid when it feels threatened. Skunks are fairly common, even in suburban and urban places. Skunks are about the same size as cats, with stripes and fluffy tails. They're usually black and white but occasionally gray or brown. If your dog has ever met a skunk face-to-face, or startled one, you know how powerful a skunk's smell can be. It's an odor that's hard to get rid of — and it's strong enough to keep predators like bears far away. Skunk most likely comes from an Abenaki root.
Vocabulary lists containing skunk
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:
The lawyers point to the use of cartoon animals by convenience stores since at least the 1930s: Sinclair Oil has a dinosaur, Stinker Stores a skunk, Esso a tiger and Wawa a goose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Santa Rosa Island is also home to a lizard species found on three of the Channel Islands, a spotted skunk endemic to two Channel Islands, a unique island fox subspecies and several uncommon birds.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
You couldn’t turn on your television without seeing this woman pop up somewhere, sporting a black-and-white skunk wig, preaching her freak-forward gospel.
From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2025
Like an urban squirrel or skunk, you are, alarmingly often, in danger of having your body shattered by a two-ton machine hurtling through space at 70 miles per hour.
From Slate ● May 25, 2024
There should be skunk time at school, thought Bat.
From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold
The virus is known to infect mammals — from skunks, bears, and cows to people and house pets.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2024
Prehistoric elephants, saber-toothed cats, jaguars, llamas, peccaries, deer, skunks and bears streamed from North America to South.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2024
In the years after their seminal roadkill surveys, the Stoners continued to tally flattened fauna, from snakes in Florida to skunks in New York.
From Slate ● May 25, 2024
Since 2020, a bird flu virus has been spreading among more animal species — including dogs, cats, skunks, bears and even seals and porpoises — in scores of countries.
From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2024
We had a grass yard in front and in back, and at night raccoons, possums, and skunks walked through the backyard just as if they lived there.
From "Kira-Kira" by Cynthia Kadohata
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.
