stink
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to emit a strong offensive smell.
- Synonyms:
- reek
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to be offensive to honesty or propriety; to be in extremely bad repute or disfavor.
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Informal. to be disgustingly inferior.
That book stinks.
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Slang. to have a large quantity of something (usually followed by of orwith ).
They stink of money. She stinks with jewelry.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a strong offensive smell; stench.
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Informal. an unpleasant fuss; scandal.
There was a big stink about his accepting a bribe.
-
(used with a singular verb) stinks, chemistry as a course of study.
verb phrase
noun
-
a strong foul smell; stench
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slang a great deal of trouble (esp in the phrase to make or raise a stink )
-
intensely; furiously
verb
-
to emit a foul smell
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slang to be thoroughly bad or abhorrent
this town stinks
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informal to have a very bad reputation
his name stinks
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to be of poor quality
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slang to have or appear to have an excessive amount (of money)
-
informal to cause to stink
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
stinksimple
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stinkssimple
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have stunkperfect
-
has stunkperfect
-
am stinkingprogressive
-
are stinkingprogressive
-
is stinkingprogressive
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have been stinkingperfect progressive
-
has been stinkingperfect progressive
Past
-
stanksimple
-
stunksimple
-
had stunkperfect
-
was stinkingprogressive
-
were stinkingprogressive
-
had been stinkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stink
First recorded before 900; (verb) Middle English stinken, Old English stincan; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the verb; cognate with German stinken (verb); cf. stench
Explanation
When things stink, they smell terrible. If you throw food scraps in your kitchen trash can, it will eventually start to stink. You can say that something stinks — your dog's breath, or your brother's feet — and you can call the offensive odor itself a stink. Figuratively, something can stink even if it doesn't literally smell bad: "I'm sorry, but that movie you recommended really stinks. It's awful." The Old English root is stincan, "emit a smell of any kind, or exhale."
Vocabulary lists containing stink
The Nose Knows: Olfactory Vocabulary
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Smell Words
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Words with Two Past-Tense Forms That Creeped (or Crept) into English
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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.
See Examples For:
Innuendo leaves a lingering stink that’s harder to dispel.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026
Get ready to catch a whiff of stink.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
“Best and Last’s” flashbacks are a walloping reminder that Knoxville is inimitable: a telegenic and extroverted entertainer with a charisma he wields like a skunk aims its stink.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
She’s one of us, a fan of an onion bagel for breakfast, even if it makes her breath stink.
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2026
Teeth startles and then passes out, emitting his terrible stink.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
Imagine this conversation with your spouse or roommate: “Dude, what is that smell? It stinks like burning diapers. Did you forget to pay the air?”
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
Scratchy and stiff, it stinks of the stale urine used to set the dye.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
“If it bleeds, it leads” is no more, replaced by something that stinks in its own way.
From Slate ● Apr. 7, 2026
“The running joke in the community was, ‘The first product stinks, the second one’s better, and the third one’s where they get it right.’
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
“That’s the big gun, but it stinks to high heaven. Best to keep that container sealed tight,” she said.
From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry
He visited Los Angeles in 1926 and declared that “the whole place stank of orange blossoms.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2024
He found a place in Astana in an apartment that stank of cat.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
Black singers get it: You’re practicing the art of stank.
From New York Times ● May 25, 2023
According to one account, the sulfurous stank emanating from the White House lawn polluted the air for about three-square miles.
From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2023
The block party is only getting started, and I can’t let Darius Darcy and his stank attitude kill my vibe.
From "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi
For the past five years, returns have stunk, especially following a 28% tumble for the ETF since the end of October.
From Barron's ● Apr. 16, 2026
“It was hot, it stunk and it was dirty,” says Payden Adams, the park’s VP of entertainment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
“It was disgusting,” she said, explaining that the walls were damp and mouldy, while the flat was dirty and stunk of cigarette smoke.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2024
At the time, Garvey was trying to organize charity sports events, which he stunk at, to put it politely.
From Slate ● May 29, 2024
And when they shut off the water first and then the power next, it stunk and the rats came, braver than the bugs, more invasive than the men.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
“These are all the struggles I think about every stinking day,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
Stafford Hopkins is good-looking, brilliant, successful and stinking rich.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
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
It was horrifying for his friend to see him enveloped by stinking, rotting waste.
From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2025
They could smell him in his stinking rags.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
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.
