skunk

American  

[skuhngk] / skʌŋk /

noun

• skunks,
  plural
• skunk
  plural

1. 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.

2. any of several related or similar animals.

3. Informal. a thoroughly contemptible person.

4. U.S. Navy Slang. an unidentified ship or target.

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verb (used with object)

1. Slang. to defeat thoroughly in a game, especially while keeping an opponent from scoring.

   The team skunked the favorites in the crucial game.

skunk British  

/ skʌŋk /

noun

1. 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

2. informal a despicable person

3. slang a strain of cannabis smoked for its exceptionally powerful psychoactive properties

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verb

1. slang (tr) to defeat overwhelmingly in a game

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• skunk
  plural
• skunks
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

skunk skunks

Ford has been working on its own EV platform in the U.S. as part of its so-called skunk works project to build a $30,000 electric pickup.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025

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

In Jerusalem, police used skunk water - a foul-smelling substance fired from water cannon - to clear protesters who had blocked the Begin Boulevard, the city's major north-south highway.

From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2024

In fact, keeping a skunk as a pet is much more challenging than keeping a dog or a cat.

From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold

They must be hungry—twice they catch skunks, and a sealed house with a skunk inside, loaded or unloaded, is more than this viewer wanted to contemplate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Other mammal species that have since been infected include skunks, domestic cats, bottlenose dolphins, harbor seals, foxes, mountain lions and coyotes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2025

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

Seen from a car window they appear as fragments, evoking memories of woodchucks, badgers, skunks, voles, snakes, sometimes the mysterious wreckage of a deer.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas