stinky
Americanadjective
-
having a foul smell
-
informal unpleasant or disgusting
-
informal of poor quality; contemptible
Etymology
Origin of stinky
Explanation
Stinky things smell bad. If your gym uniform is particularly stinky after a game of volleyball, you should probably wash it. You might describe the gorgonzola cheese your sister loves as stinky. She, on the other hand, may object to your favorite perfume, describing it as stinky. Besides bad odors, the informal adjective stinky can also describe generally bad or rotten things: "You did a stinky job of cleaning the kitchen after you baked all that bread. There's flour everywhere!"
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.
Stinky or fragrant, Italian or French, yellow or off-white.
From Salon • Jan. 25, 2023
Wolf pups Stinky, Claudette and Runt venture out into a blizzard to save their parents.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2020
Mr Hingst would refer to Mr Short as "Mr Stinky" and sprayed deodorant at him, the court heard.
From BBC • Mar. 26, 2019
Hallinan is exceedingly funny when describing colorful crooks like Louie the Lost, a getaway driver with no sense of direction, and Stinky Tetweil, a grossly fat fence who surrounds himself with exquisite objets d’art.
From New York Times • Nov. 2, 2018
“He made Stinky Sanders, the mortician, the richest man in town, Colonel,” Hobie Rawls said while pouring coffee into Bull’s cup from a steaming glass globe.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
