1
as in smelly
having an unpleasant smell
came home from their trip to find stinking garbage that had been left in the kitchen
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2
as in drunk
slang
being under the influence of alcohol
warned her husband not to come home stinking—or he'd be sleeping on the couch
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as in damn
to a great degree
a huge, showy house that screams, "We're stinking rich!"
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of stinking
Mary Ellen Klas, Mercury News, 26 May 2026
Not the good, high-altitude ozone that shields us from dangerous UV light, but bad ozone, hovering right above ground level — stinking, brownish, grayish photochemical smog.
—Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
Their solution to a stinking run was, comically, to rely on less than 23 per cent of possession and pick Madrid off with a classy volley from Martin Satriano, below.
—Phil Hay, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2026
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
GothamGetty Images Aren't expectant parents Jenna Dewan and Steve Kazee just so stinking cute?
—Emily Dixon, Marie Claire, 3 Dec. 2019
Second, the Huskies covered the spread as the favorite one stinking time?
—Mike Anthony, courant.com, 29 Aug. 2019
The area included a stinking heap: years of goat dung in layers up to a foot thick.
—Michael Greshko, National Geographic, 28 Aug. 2019
Steve Bender, Southern Living, 8 Apr. 2026
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
Nix can sling it with Sam Darnold all stinking day.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 27 Jan. 2026
Free yourself from those stinking shackles!
—The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Jan. 2026
The carpets were absolutely stinking of wet cheesy dog.
—Maria Morava, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
The defense already looks tired of the offense stinking.
—Zac Jackson, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
But who cares about stinking elections?
—Jackie Calmes, Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
America’s political landscape has become a stinking mess.
—Mary Ellen Klas, Mercury News, 26 May 2026
Not the good, high-altitude ozone that shields us from dangerous UV light, but bad ozone, hovering right above ground level — stinking, brownish, grayish photochemical smog.
—Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
Their solution to a stinking run was, comically, to rely on less than 23 per cent of possession and pick Madrid off with a classy volley from Martin Satriano, below.
—Phil Hay, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2026
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
GothamGetty Images Aren't expectant parents Jenna Dewan and Steve Kazee just so stinking cute?
—Emily Dixon, Marie Claire, 3 Dec. 2019
Second, the Huskies covered the spread as the favorite one stinking time?
—Mike Anthony, courant.com, 29 Aug. 2019
The area included a stinking heap: years of goat dung in layers up to a foot thick.
—Michael Greshko, National Geographic, 28 Aug. 2019
Verb
And not some stinking Bradford pears.
—Steve Bender, Southern Living, 8 Apr. 2026
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
Nix can sling it with Sam Darnold all stinking day.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 27 Jan. 2026
Free yourself from those stinking shackles!
—The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Jan. 2026
The carpets were absolutely stinking of wet cheesy dog.
—Maria Morava, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
The defense already looks tired of the offense stinking.
—Zac Jackson, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
But who cares about stinking elections?
—Jackie Calmes, Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stinking
Adjective
-
Store smelly wood such as cedar or pine and petroleum products, including tar paper, paint, turpentine, kerosene, rubber and charcoal fluid.—
Sarah Moore,
Freep.com,
8 May 2026
-
Tripti Bhattacharya, a paleoclimatologist at Syracuse University, also takes advantage of waxy substances—though much less smelly ones.—
Hannah Richter,
Scientific American,
7 May 2026
Adjective
-
Spending evenings alone at Wally’s getting drunk and talking to himself certainly doesn’t help Kenneth’s social standing.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2026
-
MacArthur recurs in Steve Carell HBO comedy, Rooster, as a drunk hockey coach.—
Mikey O'Connell,
HollywoodReporter,
29 May 2026
Adverb
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His sense of crafting anecdotes into top-tier material and knowing how to use his sweet-molasses pacing to calmly detonate a joke is damn near peerless.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
28 May 2026
-
That curve looks pretty damn good.—
Eric Siegel,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2026
Verb
-
Today, a checkerboard of subdivisions crosses east to west, and the remaining grasslands are buried each day under reeking asphalt and rolls of turfgrass.—
Maggie Slepian,
Longreads,
14 May 2026
-
And the smell is soft and pleasant, instead of reeking of alcohol.—
BestReviews,
Mercury News,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Octopuses can move at high speed by sucking water into an interior funnel and squirting it out like air escaping from a balloon.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
25 May 2026
-
These images do not romanticize the West as much as document how difficult, life-sucking and under-appreciated this job can be.—
Ray Mark Rinaldi,
Denver Post,
18 May 2026
Adjective
-
Vinegar can help dissolve limescale buildup on faucets, kills stinky bacteria, and is eco-friendly and affordable, too.—
Daley Quinn,
Southern Living,
23 May 2026
-
Keno brought his goofy side to every practice, getting laughs at stinky feet jokes, or pretending to run into a door.—
Kendrick Calfee,
Kansas City Star,
22 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The show’s storylines have largely revolved around drunken fights, messy breakups, hookups and cheating allegations while occasionally weaving in more serious conversations about race, mental health and fractured childhoods.—
Pilar Melendez,
NBC news,
27 May 2026
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Two years before the murders, Tinsley was hired by Renee and Phillip Beach, after their daughter Mallory was killed in a boat crash caused by the drunken antics of Murdaugh’s son, Paul.—
James Lasdun,
New Yorker,
26 May 2026
Adverb
-
But Cleveland State was, in fact, a damned good basketball team, as were most of the double-digit seed winners in NCAA Tournament history.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
18 Mar. 2026
-
And damned if Love isn’t willing to talk, sometimes candidly and other times in maddeningly vague terms, about all the hell she’s gone through to get to right now.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
28 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Stinking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stinking. Accessed 2 Jun. 2026.
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