rancid

adjective

ran·cid ˈran(t)-səd

Synonyms of rancid next

: having an unpleasant smell or taste usually from chemical change or decomposition

rancid butter

rancid breath

: distinctly unpleasant or distasteful : offensive

a rancid sexual scandal

Without free speech, even in its most rancid forms, we may have nothing to choose at night but old movies and "Heeeeeeeere's Johnny!"—

Richard Corliss

rancidity

ran-ˈsi-də-tē

noun

rancidness

ˈran(t)-səd-nəs

noun

Did you know?

Rancid and putrid and fetid—oh my! While all three words are used to describe unpleasant smells and tastes, each also traces its roots to a “stinky” Latin word: rancid can be traced back to the Latin rancēre; the root of putrid shares an ancestor with putēre; and fetid comes from foetēre—all verbs meaning “to stink.” Not long after entering the language in the early 17th century, rancid also developed a second, figurative sense which is used for non-gustatory and non-olfactory offenses, as in “rancid hypocrisy.”

Examples of rancid in a Sentence

Some foods become rancid quickly. an unscrupulous food vendor who's as rancid as the meat that he serves

Recent Examples on the Web Davis was hardly the first to succumb to the lure of the corpse flower (not to be confused with Amorphophallus titanum, which has a giant phallic protrusion and also happens to smell like rancid meat and bear the nickname corpse flower). —

Hillary Rosner, Discover Magazine, 10 Dec. 2013 This research extends to the effects of pH and cooking temperature on meaty and species flavor, sweetness, barnyard, and rancid flavor in sheep-meat. —

Ncbi Rofl, Discover Magazine, 3 Dec. 2010 However, excessive levels of lipolysis could lead to a rancid taste (McSweeney and Sousa 2000; Collins et al. 2003b). —

Ashton Yoon, Discover Magazine, 26 Sep. 2017 Fish supplements that contain omega-3s are prone to going rancid. —

Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 4 Apr. 2022 Much of the damage was from flooding, which left a thick layer of rancid muck on her floors. —

Stephen Smith and Bobby Caina Calvan, Anchorage Daily News, 7 Oct. 2022 Jackson Lamb elevates the character’s filthy, rancid presentation to high art. —

Chicago Tribune Staff, Chicago Tribune, 30 Nov. 2022 For more than 50 years, New Yorkers have had to contend with mountainous sprawls of garbage bags piled curbside as early as 4 p.m., creating a rancid eyesore that assaults the senses and sensibility of all who pass. —

Jeffery C. Mays, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2022 Exposure to light, heat and air can cause your coconut oil to go rancid. —

Nicole Fisher, Good Housekeeping, 3 Oct. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rancid.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.