- present participle of stink.
stinking
Americanadjective
-
having a foul smell
-
informal unpleasant or disgusting
-
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
Miles and miles of refineries and their stinking tailings ponds, adjacent to beach resorts that run on desalination plants.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2026
"We had a brand-new baby with bad lungs, and we wake up to a generator running above our heads and the absolutely stinking of petrol," says Laura.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2025
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
“Ziggy is so stinking cute. I see Mae taking him outside sometimes.”
From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks
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.
