stinking

[sting-king]

See more synonyms for stinking on Thesaurus.com

adjective

that smells foul; foul-smelling.
Slang. very drunk; plastered.
Slang. very rich: His father left him so much money he's stinking.

contemptible; disgusting: a stinking shame.

adverb

completely or extremely: stinking drunk.

Origin of stinking

before 1000; Middle English stinkinge, Old English stincende. See stink, -ing²

Related formsstink·ing·ly, adverbstink·ing·ness, noun

Synonyms for stinking

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1. smelly, putrid, rotten, putrescent, foul, miasmal, rank.

stink

[stingk]

verb (used without object), stank or, often, stunk; stunk; stink·ing.

to emit a strong offensive smell.
to be offensive to honesty or propriety; to be in extremely bad repute or disfavor.
Informal. to be disgustingly inferior: That book stinks.
Slang. to have a large quantity of something (usually followed by of or with): They stink of money. She stinks with jewelry.

verb (used with object), stank or, often, stunk; stunk; stink·ing.

to cause to stink or be otherwise offensive (often followed by up): an amateurish performance that really stank up the stage.

noun

a strong offensive smell; stench.
Informal. an unpleasant fuss; scandal: There was a big stink about his accepting a bribe.
stinks, (used with a singular verb) British Slang. chemistry as a course of study.

Verb Phrases

stink out, to repel or drive out by means of a highly offensive smell.

Origin of stink

before 900; (v.) Middle English stinken, Old English stincan; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the v.; cognate with German stinken. (v.); cf. stench

Related formsout·stink, verb (used with object), out·stank or, often, out·stunk; out·stunk; out·stink·ing.

Synonyms for stink

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1. reek.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for stinking

putrid, funky, fetid, foul, rank, reeking, malodorous, mephitic, noisome, offensive, rancid, odiferous

Examples from the Web for stinking

Contemporary Examples of stinking

And “stinking rich” is the smell of zero carbon emissions at eco-friendly tech company campuses.
Up To a Point: Robber Barons Make Way For Robber Nerds
P. J. O’Rourke
August 9, 2014
Now those are destroyed, too, and the animals are strewn about, bloating and stinking, as if in a tableau of “Guernica.”
Inside the Gaza Schoolyard Massacre
Jesse Rosenfeld
July 26, 2014
But the language about public schools and cricket bewildered audiences and Frank Rich gave it a stinking review.
Bring ‘Another Country’ to Broadway: Why a Hit British Classic Needs Its New York Moment
Tom Teodorczuk
June 2, 2014
She goes on to dismiss “stinking romanticism” as sick, akin to “boils & blisters & warts.”
Flannery O’Connor’s Desire for God
Jen Vafidis
November 13, 2013
And Alfonso goes, "Badges, we don't need no stinking badges" and starts shooting at them.
Mel Brooks’s 11 Favorite Movie Scenes: ‘Psycho’ to ‘Some Like It Hot’
Mel Brooks
May 20, 2013

Historical Examples of stinking

Light must be brought into this dark, muddy, stinking labyrinth.
Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863
Adam Gurowski
The specific name, "nasty" or "stinking," has really no application to the plant.
The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise
M. E. Hard
If I am to be drowned, it sha'n't be in the stinking Red River.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine -- Volume 57, No. 351, January 1845
Various
Tentacles gripped at him, the foul, stinking smell gagged him.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, June, 1930
Various
A blast of fetid, stinking air struck his face, and he choked.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, June, 1930
Various

British Dictionary definitions for stinking

stinking

adjective

having a foul smell
informal unpleasant or disgusting
(postpositive) slang very drunk

adverb

informal (intensifier, expressing contempt for the person referred to)stinking rich

Derived Formsstinkingly, adverbstinkingness, noun

stink

noun

a strong foul smell; stench
slang a great deal of trouble (esp in the phrase to make or raise a stink)
like stink intensely; furiously

verb stinks, stinking, stank, stunk or stunk (mainly intr)

to emit a foul smell
slang to be thoroughly bad or abhorrentthis town stinks
informal to have a very bad reputationhis name stinks
to be of poor quality
(foll by of or with) slang to have or appear to have an excessive amount (of money)
(tr usually foll by up) informal to cause to stink

Word Origin for stink

Old English stincan; related to Old Saxon stinkan, German stinken, Old Norse stökkva to burst; see stench

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for stinking

adj.

present participle adjective from stink (v.). Modifying drunk, first attested 1887; stinking rich dates from 1956.

stink

Old English stincan "emit a smell of any kind" (class III strong verb; past tense stonc), from West Germanic *stenkwanan (cf. Old Saxon stincan, Old High German stinkan, Dutch stinken), from the root of stench. Old English swote stincan "to smell sweet," but offensive sense began in Old English and was primary by mid-13c.; smell now tends the same way. Figurative meaning "be offensive" is from early 13c.; meaning "be inept" is recorded from 1924. To stink to high heaven first recorded 1963.

stink

c.1300, from stink (v.). Sense of "extensive fuss" first recorded 1812.

Idioms and Phrases with stinking

stink

In addition to the idiom beginning with stink

stink to high heaven

also see:

big stink
make a stink
smell (stink) up