Stink Meaning
/stɪŋk/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo have a strong bad smell.
verbTo be greatly inferior; to perform badly.
Sentence Examples
"I'm soaked with sweat." "Step back. You stink!"
He is raising a big stink over a minor glitch.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The leftover fish began to ____ after being left in the sun.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The rotten eggs created a terrible ____ that forced us to open all the windows in the kitchen today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English stinken, from Old English stincan, from Proto-Germanic *stinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ-, *stegʷ- (“to push, thrust, strike”). Cognate with West Frisian stjonke (“to stink”), Dutch stinken (“to stink”), German stinken (“to stink”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk stinke (“to stink”), Swedish stinka (“to stink”), Icelandic stökkva (“to spring, leap, jump”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"They gave me Out of Africa, by Isak Dinesen. I thought it was going to stink, but it didn't. It was a very good book."
— 1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 24:
"My French stinks, Langdon thought, but my zodiac iconography is pretty good. Taurus was always the bull. Astrology was a symbolic constant all over the world."
— 2003, Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 19:
"Improve your golf swing by taking your mate to the driving range. If you're good, you can show off and give her some tips. If you stink, play it for laughs."
— 2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 135:
"The parish stank of idolatry, abominable rites were practiced in secret, and in all the bounds there was no one had a more evil name for the black traffic than one Alison Sempill, who bode at the Skerburnfoot."
— 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
"“I’m thankful for this beautiful morning!” He points toward the sky. “See that sunrise? Smell that air—” / “That’s stink from the rendering plant.”"
— 2011, Jonathan Friesen, chapter 6, in The Last Martin, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zonderkidz, →ISBN, page 65:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The leftover fish began to ____ after being left in the sun.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The rotten eggs created a terrible ____ that forced us to open all the windows in the kitchen today.