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as in poisonous
bad for the well-being of the body it's no fun having asthma and living in an area with noisome smog

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How is the word noisome distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of noisome are fetid, fusty, malodorous, musty, putrid, rank, and stinking. While all these words mean "bad-smelling," noisome adds a suggestion of being harmful or unwholesome as well as offensive.

a stagnant, noisome sewer

How do fusty and musty relate to one another, in the sense of noisome?

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 could malodorous be used to replace noisome?

The words malodorous and noisome are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, malodorous may range from the unpleasant to the strongly offensive.

malodorous fertilizers

When might putrid be a better fit than noisome?

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

the putrid smell of rotting fish

When is it sensible to use rank instead of noisome?

While in some cases nearly identical to noisome, rank suggests a strong unpleasant smell.

rank cigar smoke

How are the words stinking and fetid related as synonyms of noisome?

Both stinking and fetid suggest the foul or disgusting.

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

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 noisome 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 Performers like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, who long ago bartered their integrity and believability for money and ratings, can peddle their noisome pro-Trump propaganda on Fox News. Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2022 But Trudeau is using it to get rid of a political headache: the loud, noisome, but nonviolent blockade of bridges in Canada and the downtown of the nation’s capital. Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 16 Feb. 2022 But her water bowl is filled with a noisome black, brackish liquid — what has fouled it, and for how long, is anyone’s guess. Gene Weingarten, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2021 And there were some years where his fame was turned infamous by serious accusations of the most noisome acts. Ashley Cullins, Billboard, 3 May 2021 Farmers agreed to reduce the emissions of the country’s noisome pigs. The Economist, 9 July 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for noisome
Adjective
  • By modern standards, kind of disgusting.
    Glenn Garner, Deadline, 7 Nov. 2025
  • But stepping into that closet was really disgusting.
    Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Four plays, 76 yards, in 25 stinking seconds.
    David Aldridge, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2025
  • 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
Adjective
  • For all their sophistication—transforming a poisonous root and its leaves into a whole range of delicacies is no mean feat—for years such dishes were seen by the city’s elite as the food of poverty.
    Michael Snyder, Travel + Leisure, 5 Nov. 2025
  • By appointing a man who was deeply unpopular with fans by the end of his reign so recently, though, Wolves would have been condemning him and his players to working in a poisonous environment from day one.
    Steve Madeley, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • This was one of the ugliest matches in recent memory; a game that, in isolation, only those fond of trench warfare could love.
    Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025
  • Things got a little ugly for Pretty Little Liars star Shay Mitchell this week.
    Raechal Shewfelt, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • This mostly came from a high-profile matchup against the Lakers in which Rui Hachimura defended Wemby well and Marcus Smart flopped his way into a couple of offensive foul calls against Wembanyama.
    Zach Harper, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025
  • The album’s messy yet seamless scatter-spray of instruments—cello, hand shakers, piano—gets torn apart by the foulest plumes of bass.
    Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • No politician will want to be associated with a team that is now toxic.
    Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11 Nov. 2025
  • King invented The Network at a time when people were still processing the toxic relationship between mass entertainment and mind control, and while the thrust of his story may not have aged a day, the medium is the message, and that medium has changed.
    David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 11 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • Up north, hundreds of sea lions have been found on beaches in recent months suffering from a bacterial condition that is sickening and killing younger sea lions by attacking their kidneys, said John Warner, CEO of the Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles in San Pedro.
    Erika I. Ritchie, Oc Register, 29 Oct. 2025
  • Winter is coming, and no amount of Narcan can solve this sickening public health crisis.
    Joe Dwinell, Boston Herald, 19 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Vermin, malodorous airs and other issues caused 14 Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach restaurants to fail inspection last week.
    David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 31 Oct. 2025
  • Midsummer is usually when sargassum, the floating seaweed that often washes up in malodorous piles on Florida beaches, starts to wane.
    Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 5 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Noisome.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/noisome. Accessed 16 Nov. 2025.

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