How to Use stink in a Sentence
- The food is good at that restaurant, but the service stinks.
- Having a root canal stinks.
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At some point the thumping stopped, and the steam stink.
—Richard Brookhiser, National Review, 25 Jan. 2024
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This is gonna be all day, the meat’s gonna start to stink, etc.
—Vulture, 14 Nov. 2022
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As the sun warmed the earth back to life, the bodies of Bucha began to stink.
—Erika Kinetz, Anchorage Daily News, 26 Oct. 2022
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Whether or not that stink ends up on him, time will tell.
—Fox News, 21 Aug. 2018
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And the Hunter Biden stuff is a stinky scandal that stinks to the high heaven.
—James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Sep. 2023
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The law stinks because this dude could not tell wrong from right.
—John Archibald | Jarchibald@al.com, al, 25 Oct. 2019
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The train’s toilets began to back up and the air began to stink.
—Eric Spitznagel, Popular Mechanics, 27 Dec. 2019
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Even if the team stinks, baseball remains good white noise for the home.
—Mac Engel, star-telegram, 5 May 2018
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If the new rules stink, the league can scrap them after one season.
—Joe Nguyen, The Denver Post, 21 June 2019
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Towel-dry down to the skin to prevent mildew stink or hot spots.
—Kim Campbell Thornton, sacbee, 11 July 2018
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But so far, this feels like a gadget that might not stink.
—Victoria Song, The Verge, 27 Sep. 2023
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Only the roots should be in the water, as the bulb will rot (and stink) if it is submerged.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Dec. 2020
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Sewages can stink for many reasons, but one of the main culprits is a clogged pipe.
—Chandra Fleming, Detroit Free Press, 21 Oct. 2022
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Some dogs are attracted to stink as a way to mask their own scent.
—Sean Mowbray, Discover Magazine, 20 Oct. 2023
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Stop shoe stink at the source with Zorpads Shoe Inserts ($10 for 2 pairs).
—Christina Poletto, Better Homes & Gardens, 30 Aug. 2023
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The Packers are rolling again, the Rams are flying high, and the Jets and Lions stink as usual.
—BostonGlobe.com, 9 Oct. 2021
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Now, does that stink for a guy that's 86 to 88 and can really command it?
—Tom Verducci, SI.com, 13 Aug. 2019
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Do stink bugs bite? Stink bugs stick to plants and other outdoor food sources.
—Natalie Schumann, Country Living, 14 June 2022
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But the rest of America still stinks at reskilling its workforce.
—Michelle Weise, Quartz at Work, 1 Oct. 2019
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The big-league team stinks, but the real problem is that the minor-league system might be worse.
—Sam Mellinger, kansascity, 4 June 2018
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The big-league team stinks, and the immediate future could be worse.
—Sam Mellinger, kansascity, 15 June 2018
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The spiders are just the latest foreign species to settle in the region, which is now home to stink bugs and fire ants.
—Cameron McWhirter, WSJ, 19 Oct. 2021
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Parking can stink, and transit can stink, and the music choices can stink.
—Sean Gentille, New York Times, 31 Jan. 2026
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While the paramedics tried to decide whether to walk around or step over the stinking trash, a neighborhood’s shock began to bloat.
—Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
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Nix can sling it with Sam Darnold all stinking day.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 27 Jan. 2026
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Free yourself from those stinking shackles!
—The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Jan. 2026
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Dolphins have stunk lately in weather like this.
—Greg Cote january 1, Miami Herald, 1 Jan. 2026
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Over time, your house will start to stink if squirrels are using your attic as a litter box.
—Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 24 Nov. 2025
- People raised a stink about the new law.
- He kicked up a stink about the way he'd been treated.
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And a stubborn hope that the stink could be blown out of the room.
—Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2020
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Your team is going to flat-out stink this year and that’s both — the good news and the bad.
—Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 5 Sep. 2019
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As soon as his door opens, I’m overwhelmed by the stink of fish.
—Michael R. Shea, Outdoor Life, 11 Feb. 2020
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This tester-favorite left us with no bad stinks in the air.
—Katherine Alex Beaven, Peoplemag, 10 Nov. 2023
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Again, the best way to change this is to make a stink with your employer.
—Shira Ovide, Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2023
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No one really wanted to linger in the stink of the game.
—Lee Bosch, Los Angeles Times, 24 Nov. 2022
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The sewage stink had been a subject of complaints for more than three years.
—Jesse Leavenworth, courant.com, 17 Sep. 2021
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Look, 2019 may be a year where football just... stinks.
—Charlotte Wilder, SI.com, 20 Sep. 2019
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The most valuable floors in a building were no longer those near the ground, but the ones at the top, away from the stink and noise of the street.
—Tom Standage, The Economist, 17 Aug. 2020
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It’s our No. 1 choice this year for guys and gals who want to beat the stink and have clean pits all day long.
—Dallas News, 30 Nov. 2022
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Newport is putting up a stink about its worst problem — the stench.
—Bob Shaw, Twin Cities, 23 Oct. 2019
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Board up your windows and lock your doors, the stink bugs are coming.
—Emma Stein, Detroit Free Press, 17 Sep. 2021
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But the odor from the world of (stink) lingers at Broncos headquarters.
—Mark Kiszla, The Denver Post, 23 Oct. 2019
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With the monster vanquished, the stink of evil can begin to be scrubbed away.
—Chris Wiley, The New Yorker, 10 Jan. 2024
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Sure, any kind of frying can be a bit messy, but the stink of oil and the plumes of onion and potato—that’s Hanukkah for me.
—Bon Appétit, 1 Dec. 2020
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Wallace went down the half-rotten stairs and came closer to the dense algal stink of the lake.
—New York Times, 18 Feb. 2020
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What wrought the change was her relationship with the Joker, a big cheese in the stink of Gotham City.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 7 Feb. 2020
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Make a reservation, mask up and, as my father-in-law used to say, get out of the house and blow the stink off ya.
—Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2021
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Chicago’s stink was allowed to rub off on the Panthers.
—Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 28 Oct. 2021
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Give me some rats, some City Hall cronyism; evoke the stink of trash on an August day.
—Vulture, 26 Apr. 2023
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On the slopes of Gorubun, there was no stink of something burning, and the pastures seemed green and peaceful.
—Ew Staff, EW.com, 2 Oct. 2020
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Lyla had this stink face the entire time because she wasn't used to the humidity and the noise and the smells.
—Matt Ortile, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Nov. 2023
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The stink from the second apartment led one neighbor to place an air purifier in the hallway.
—Emma Seiwell, New York Daily News, 24 Jan. 2026
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For him, the most revolting thing about his life in Iran was its pervasive stink.
—Amir Ahmadi Arian, The Dial, 15 Jan. 2026
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His stink didn’t get too much on me, to be honest.
—Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 26 Nov. 2025
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Without a stink, a grimy dishwasher still deserves a deep clean to restore its shine and efficiency.
—Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 10 Nov. 2025
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The raw sewage rises to the surface, adding to the unbearable stink, which spreads and worsens with every passing day.
—Eli Sharabi, Time, 1 Oct. 2025
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Just causing a stink to cause one.
—Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Aug. 2025
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stink.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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