stinking
Americanadjective
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having a foul smell
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informal unpleasant or disgusting
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slang (postpositive) very drunk
adverb
Other Word Forms
- stinkingly adverb
- stinkingness noun
Etymology
Origin of stinking
before 1000; Middle English stinkinge, Old English stincende. See stink, -ing 2
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.
Not the good, high-altitude ozone that shields us from dangerous UV light, but bad ozone, hovering right above ground level — stinking, brownish, grayish photochemical smog.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
Miles and miles of refineries and their stinking tailings ponds, adjacent to beach resorts that run on desalination plants.
From Salon • Mar. 17, 2026
"Harry Milne, for me, he tried everything he possible could to affect the game, to drive Hearts forward. Other than him, pretty much all of them were stinking."
From BBC • Feb. 10, 2026
A poisonous river of a stinking yellow liquid rushed downhill, inundating homes and fields, including the one where she grew corn to feed her eight children.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 28, 2025
One afternoon, we cross the wooden planks laid over the stinking green ooze.
From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell
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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.