as in stinking
having an unpleasant smell
your smelly sneakers are enough to raise the dead
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of smelly
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
Before, the engine room was a noisy, smelly space below deck.
—Chun-Lien Su, IEEE Spectrum, 29 July 2019
If your plant’s roots or stems are mushy and smelly, your plant may be affected by root rot.
—Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for smelly
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
Before, the engine room was a noisy, smelly space below deck.
—Chun-Lien Su, IEEE Spectrum, 29 July 2019
If your plant’s roots or stems are mushy and smelly, your plant may be affected by root rot.
—Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for smelly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smelly
Adjective
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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
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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
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Nate Bellinger, an attorney with Our Children's Trust, said Wisconsin laws are ripe for a challenge.—
Laura Schulte,
jsonline.com,
22 Aug. 2025
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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
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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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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
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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
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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
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One of the guests makes a disgusting joke involving the boat and lubricant.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
26 Aug. 2025
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The show tells the story of Dexter Procter, a 10-year-old paediatrician and the world’s youngest-ever doctor trying to solve – frequently disgusting – medical mysteries, save his job, and find his place in the world.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
20 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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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
-
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
Adjective
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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
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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
Adjective
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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
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At the program’s outset, Felt tried to help the kids’ understanding by offering some musty statistics.—
Rick Kogan,
Chicago Tribune,
30 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Smelly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smelly. Accessed 3 Sep. 2025.
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