stench

[stench]

noun

1. an offensive smell or odor; stink.

2. a foul quality.

stench

/ stɛntʃ /

noun

1. a strong and extremely offensive odour; stink

Other Word Forms

• stenchful adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of stench¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English stenc “odor (good or bad)”; akin to stink

Word History and Origins

Origin of stench¹

Old English stenc; related to Old Saxon, Old High German stank; see _stink

Synonym Study

See odor.

Example Sentences

By four minutes, the foul stench was gone, replaced by an "average burnt rubber" scent.

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On a recent morning, a sour-sweet stench wafted in the air, and a blanket of flies settled on the ground near the spilled produce boxes that amass after weeks of neglect.

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“Starting first thing in the morning, talk about the stench. Then you call the state and nothing happens,” Dermish said.

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Rico said that while spending nights nearby in Imperial Beach, he was awakened by a stench that he described as piercing, something he also heard from residents.

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He is a hoary phoenix rising from the ashes of his own stench so often he resembles the s**t demon in “Dogma.”

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Related Words

• smell 
• stink