stench

[stench] /stɛntʃ/
noun
1.
an offensive smell or odor; stink.
2.
a foul quality.
Origin
before 900; Middle English; Old English stenc odor (good or bad); akin to stink
Related forms
stenchful, adjective
Synonyms
See odor.
Examples from the web for stench
  • The sickening stench of burned plastic permeated the air.
  • More corpses than the ground could accommodate resulted in the stench of decay and the constant risk of disease.
  • Visitors approaching the camp for the first time often retched from the stench.
  • Toward the end, gangrene could set in, rotting fingers and toes and driving away caregivers with the horrific stench.
  • Their stench has been compared to the scent of a thousand dead elephants rotting in the sun.
  • It lathers up great and will wash away the horrid stench from belly crawling through dungeons.
  • The sour stench of garbage and alcohol rose from the sidewalk in hot waves.
  • For those of us who are not as genetically prosperous, the stench of our much-beloved pooch may be the next best thing.
  • The stench of ammonia wafts from the group bathroom across the foyer.
  • For decades, the stench of the nearby refineries never seemed to concern city leaders here.
British Dictionary definitions for stench

stench

/stɛntʃ/
noun
1.
a strong and extremely offensive odour; stink
Word Origin
Old English stenc; related to Old Saxon, Old High German stank; see stink
Word Origin and History for stench
n.

Old English stenc "a smell" (either pleasant or unpleasant), from Proto-Germanic *stankwiz (cf. Old Saxon stanc, Old High German stanch, German stank). Related to stincan "emit a smell" (see stink) as drench is to drink. The notion of "evil smell" predominated from c.1200.