stinker

noun

stink·​er ˈstiŋ-kər 

1

a

: an offensive or contemptible person

b

: one that stinks

c

: something of very poor quality

also : dud sense 2a

the movie is a stinker

2

: any of several large petrels that have an offensive odor

3

slang : something extremely difficult

the examination was a real stinker

Synonyms

• bastard
• beast
• bleeder [British]
• blighter [chiefly British]
• boor
• bounder
• bugger
• buzzard
• cad
• chuff
• churl
• clown
• creep
• cretin
• crud [slang]
• crumb [slang]
• cur
• dirtbag [slang]
• dog
• fink
• heel
• hound
• jerk
• joker
• louse
• lout
• pill
• rat
• rat fink
• reptile
• rotter
• schmuck [slang]
• scum
• scumbag [slang]
• scuzzball [slang]
• skunk
• sleaze
• sleazebag [slang]
• sleazeball [slang]
• slime
• slimeball [slang]
• slob
• snake
• so-and-so
• sod [chiefly British]
• stinkard
• swine
• toad
• varmint
• vermin

Examples of stinker in a Sentence

He is a dirty little stinker.

a real stinker of a performance

Recent Examples on the Web

The championship programs from the last two decades have put up a stinker in just 4.9 percent of games. —Dom Luszczyszyn, New York Times, 16 May 2025

Former #1, another stinker, The Deliverance is down to #8. —Paul Tassi, Forbes, 15 Sep. 2024

Tesla Cybertruck Is The Auto Industry’s Biggest Flop In Decades The list of famous auto industry flops is long and storied, topped by stinkers like Ford’s Edsel and exploding Pinto and General Motors’s unsightly Pontiac Aztek crossover SUV. —Alan Ohnsman, Forbes.com, 7 Apr. 2025

The list of famous auto industry flops is long and storied, topped by stinkers like Ford’s Edsel and exploding Pinto and General Motors’s unsightly Pontiac Aztek crossover SUV. —Alan Ohnsman, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1602, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for stinker

• clinker
• drinker
• linker
• pinker
• sinker
• thinker
• tinker
• freethinker