stinker
Americannoun
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stinkers
plural
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a person or thing that stinks.
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Informal. a mean or despicable person; louse.
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Informal. something, especially some form of entertainment, of inferior quality.
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Informal. something difficult.
a real stinker of a crossword puzzle.
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any device emitting an offensive odor, as a stink bomb or stinkpot.
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Dialect. any of several large petrels.
noun
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a person or thing that stinks
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slang a difficult or very unpleasant person or thing
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slang something of very poor quality
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informal any of several fulmars or related birds that feed on carrion
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of stinker
1600–10; 1920–25 stinker for def. 2; stink + -er 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.
See Examples For:
When was the last time you had a conversation with someone about Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz’s 2010 stinker, “Knight and Day”?
From Salon ● Jan. 6, 2026
Just four days after Bill Plaschke promised that the Rams would win the Super Bowl, the team blew a big lead and lost in a stinker to the Seahawks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2025
The judges did admirable work laying out the historical record, saying, “This is a stinker, this is a loser.”
From Slate ● Dec. 8, 2025
Bournemouth were impressive at Molineux on Saturday but Wolves did not half make things easy for them, and their goalkeeper Jose Sa had a real stinker.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2024
Some at the table laughed, and the alleged stinker looked up at me.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
Yes, I had a few stinkers, but also some really good ones.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
James played a couple of stinkers late in the regular season when the Lakers’ schedule was condensed.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2023
And that's really saying something because, as I've mentioned in the past, I thought Season 6, "Roanoke," and Season 9, "1984," were real stinkers.
From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2022
A couple of those were stinkers, too — one at home against Nebraska and one to Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 17, 2022
"What is it you want? You're looking very flushed and flustered this morning. What's the matter with you? Have those little stinkers been flicking spitballs at you?"
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
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.
