- present participle of stink.
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
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.
Stafford Hopkins is good-looking, brilliant, successful and stinking rich.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
To others, it put a stop to nights of stinging eyes and stinking clothes - and, most importantly, it saved lives.
From BBC • Mar. 26, 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
In the Clippers’ 111-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets at Intuit Dome, Harden looked nothing like the player with a reputation for stinking up arenas at this stage of the season.
From Los Angeles Times • May 2, 2025
You’d have thought we’d leave then, stinking as we did.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
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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.