malodorous

malodorous, stinking, fetid, noisome, putrid, rank, rancid, fusty, musty mean having an unpleasant smell.

Malodorous is the general term which is referable to any smell of this character, from one that is noticeably unpleasant to one that is distinctly offensive

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malodorous flowers

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the flavor . . . like that of many malodorous cheeses, is delicate— Rawlings

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Stinking, the familiar term, and fetid, the literary or technical term, describe an odor or a thing that emits an odor which is peculiarly offensive; the former more obviously suggests disgusting foulness than the latter

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a stinking dungeon

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a stinking outhouse

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the cave . . . was indescribably foul and stinking— Barbour

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exploded stinking flashlight powder in enclosed rooms— Mott

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a fetid weed

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he detected at once a fetid odor, not very strong but highly disagreeable— Cather

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Noisome is applicable chiefly to what emits a poisonously or unwholesomely offensive odor

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four sewers emptied into these twenty-five acres of swamp and morass—stagnant, noisome, and crawling with huge snakes— Heiser

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Putrid is applicable primarily to organic matter in such a state of decomposition that it is loathsomely malodorous

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a bloated, putrid, noisome carcass— Burke

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the whole was putrid with fish corpses— Semon

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Rank (see also RANK 1; FLAGRANT) applies to an odor or to a'thing which emits an odor that is exceedingly strong and unpleasing yet not necessarily loathsome

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the rank smell of a sunflower

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O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven— Shak.

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wreathed in smoke from a rank cigar— Ralph Watson

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Rancid usually suggests an offensive taste as well as an offensive smell that is indicative of a loss of freshness; it is used especially of fatty substances (as oil or butter) that have undergone a chemical change or decomposition

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rancid bacon

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Fusty and musty both suggest lack of ventilation and sunlight, but of the two words fusty carries the stronger implication of age and prolonged uncleanliness or an accumulation of dust and dirt, and musty, the stronger implication of moldiness or of the effects of darkness or dampness

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the ill-ventilated schoolroom full of boys smelled . . . fusty— Ellis

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the department had moved from its fusty old headquarters ... to a shiny new home— Time

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the musty odor of a damp cellar

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there was an acrid, musty smell; the raw air was close with breathing— Rose Macaulay

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Antonyms: odorous

Contrasted words: fragrant, aromatic, redolent (see ODOROUS)