Synonym Chooser

How is the word fetid distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of fetid are fusty, malodorous, musty, noisome, putrid, rank, and stinking. While all these words mean "bad-smelling," stinking and fetid suggest the foul or disgusting.

prisoners were held in stinking cells
the fetid odor of skunk cabbage

How are the words fusty and musty related as synonyms of fetid?

Both fusty and musty suggest lack of fresh air and sunlight, fusty also implying prolonged uncleanliness, musty stressing the effects of dampness, mildew, or age.

a fusty attic
the musty odor of a damp cellar

When would malodorous be a good substitute for fetid?

Although the words malodorous and fetid have much in common, malodorous may range from the unpleasant to the strongly offensive.

malodorous fertilizers

Where would noisome be a reasonable alternative to fetid?

The meanings of noisome and fetid largely overlap; however, noisome adds a suggestion of being harmful or unwholesome as well as offensive.

a stagnant, noisome sewer

When can putrid be used instead of fetid?

While the synonyms putrid and fetid are close in meaning, putrid implies particularly the sickening odor of decaying organic matter.

the putrid smell of rotting fish

When could rank be used to replace fetid?

In some situations, the words rank and fetid are roughly equivalent. However, rank suggests a strong unpleasant smell.

rank cigar smoke

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fetid During the previous effort, squalid and fetid camps grew on the border and were marred by gang violence. Colleen Long, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2025 Aside this was a pool — five or six feet long and almost as wide — of what appeared to be the same fetid liquid, congealed. Ian Frisch, Curbed, 9 Jan. 2025 Sears does an excellent job with his role, capturing Johnny’s frenetic desperation to remain afloat in the clan’s fetid storm, but this critic, at least, wanted more for this character. Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Dec. 2024 The most impressive aspect of Schlesinger’s film is its sense of place: the sunny, awesomely relaxed, fetid warmth captured by Conrad Hall’s sumptuous cinematography. Armond White, National Review, 31 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for fetid
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fetid
Adjective
  • This is about a team with a top-10 payroll whose GM committed too stinking much of it to dogs that can’t, or won’t, pull the sled.
    Sean Keeler, The Denver Post, 22 Dec. 2019
  • Muttaiah said the man inside the stinking manhole was working without any safety equipment — no gloves, no shoes, no supplemental oxygen.
    Joanna Slater, Washington Post, 16 Dec. 2019
Adjective
  • This is a fruit ripe for picking and every investor, private-equity firm and sovereign wealth fund looking for a prize asset in the world’s most popular domestic football league has kicked the tyres at Spurs, taken the tour and run the numbers.
    Matt Slater, New York Times, 22 June 2025
  • If the leaf comes out with minimal resistance, the fruit is probably ripe.
    Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 22 June 2025
Adjective
  • Rue was considered the most malodorous of all herbs, was even thought to keep away evil spirits, and was spread on church floors for this purpose.
    Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 12 June 2025
  • Public stations were expensive to maintain and quickly became dirty and malodorous.
    The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 22 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • By the time Wood, the former Padres prospect who went to Washington in 2022 in the trade for Juan Soto, hit a three-run homer that clanged off the right field foul pole in the eighth inning to put the almost-final touch on the Nationals’ 10-6 victory, there was no real overt reaction.
    Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 June 2025
  • Your husband is foul for not calling out her garbage behavior.
    Virginia Chamlee, People.com, 23 June 2025
Adjective
  • Banned in Europe In addition to being a carcinogen, formaldehyde, a colorless and smelly gas, can cause rashes and can sicken those who breathe it in, according to the FDA.
    Ronnie Cohen, NPR, 8 May 2025
  • Usually, a smelly refrigerator is caused by specific foods inside it and how they're stored.
    Halee Miller Van Ryswyk, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • First came the disgusting pictures of waters so fouled that they were often compared to rotting guacamole.
    Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 26 June 2025
  • Republicans seem to try to outdo each other to see who can be the most hateful and disgusting.
    Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 26 June 2025
Adjective
  • The room was filthy, prescription bottles around the room, one bed with no sheets.
    Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 27 June 2025
  • Photograph: Chris Null As anyone who’s ever stuck a cotton swab in there knows, your ear canal is a filthy, disgusting place.
    Christopher Null, Wired News, 22 June 2025
Adjective
  • Having gone in the tank for Griffin, North Carolina’s highest courts are a noisome example of why partisanship ought to have no place in judicial selection.
    Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 13 May 2025
  • To question the sincerity of the president’s rhetoric—and that of his party—is not to dismiss the challenge posed by the various noisome currents of antidemocratic sentiment and behavior running through our politics like the effluence of overflowing sewers.
    Gerard Baker, WSJ, 7 Nov. 2022

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Cite this Entry

“Fetid.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fetid. Accessed 7 Jul. 2025.

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