Synonym Chooser

How is the word fusty distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of fusty are fetid, malodorous, musty, noisome, putrid, rank, and stinking. While all these words mean "bad-smelling," 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 can malodorous be used instead of fusty?

While the synonyms malodorous and fusty are close in meaning, malodorous may range from the unpleasant to the strongly offensive.

malodorous fertilizers

Where would noisome be a reasonable alternative to fusty?

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

a stagnant, noisome sewer

When is it sensible to use putrid instead of fusty?

The synonyms putrid and fusty are sometimes interchangeable, but putrid implies particularly the sickening odor of decaying organic matter.

the putrid smell of rotting fish

When would rank be a good substitute for fusty?

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

rank cigar smoke

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

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 fusty The steel frame is easy to wipe down, and the open design keeps it from trapping fusty odors. Audrey Lee, Architectural Digest, 4 Mar. 2025 Paradoxically, the most lucrative magazine today is likely the Costco Connection, which emerges monthly from the fusty and secretive Kirkland, WA, marketing empire. Peter Bart, Deadline, 20 Feb. 2025 In keeping with his transformational persona, Barack Obama tried to liven things up with a tan suit, only to scandalize the fusty Washington establishment. Alexander Nazaryan, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2025 Water damage and mold marked the ornate, gilded plasterwork, and paint—in a fusty Empire red—was peeling off the walls. Alice Cavanagh, Architectural Digest, 17 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for fusty
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fusty
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
  • Nate Bellinger, an attorney with Our Children's Trust, said Wisconsin laws are ripe for a challenge.
    Laura Schulte, jsonline.com, 22 Aug. 2025
  • Only 1/3rd of households have only one car, so 2/3rds are ripe for car replacement at the right price.
    Brad Templeton, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • The shop will look for common indicators of flood damage such as damp and musty odors, carpet and upholstery that has been recently cleaned or replaced, dirt and dried mud under the dash, in the engine compartment, and inside the trunk.
    Rick Barrett, jsonline.com, 13 Aug. 2025
  • At the program’s outset, Felt tried to help the kids’ understanding by offering some musty statistics.
    Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune, 30 July 2025
Adjective
  • The smelly, hairy animals with terrible eyesight are actually a type of mammal known as a collared peccary.
    Shelby Slade, AZCentral.com, 24 July 2025
  • Words for different smells, or things that are smelly.
    Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 12 July 2025
Adjective
  • 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
  • Callery pear and Bradford pear trees are considered malodorous, according to the Spruce, a home and garden site.
    Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025
Adjective
  • The plant will be able to pull 35 million gallons per day of tainted water out of the Tijuana River, preventing even more pollution from reaching our waterways and reducing the foul odors that come along with it.
    Lee Zeldin, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Aug. 2025
  • The products of pyrolysis are biochar, the carbon skeleton of the organic matter, gases such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane, and liquids that, if not condensed into a biofuel, form a sticky tar that can foul equipment.
    Erik Kobayashi-Solomon, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • While the exterior appears to be filthy, images from inside appear to show a white substance covering the steering wheel, dashboard, center console and other parts of the interior.
    Michael Ruiz, FOXNews.com, 23 Aug. 2025
  • Trump has repeatedly described some of the nation's largest cities, run by Democrats, with Black mayors and majority-minority populations, as dangerous and filthy.
    Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • Their stories include the reasons that kept them from evacuating and then the harrowing odysseys that took some of them through fetid streets of flood waters, others to the nightmare that was the Superdome or the Convention Center, and still others across impassable bridges and freeways.
    Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 22 July 2025
  • That is now as pathetic to me as a fetid caveman’s toolmaking would be to a great thinker like da Vinci or even Edgar Allen Poe.
    Graham Techler, New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Fusty.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fusty. Accessed 3 Sep. 2025.

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