Word.ws English Dictionary

make a stink

make a stink verb: to complain; to demand attention or remedy for a problem.

Verb

make a stink (third-person singular simple present makes a stink, present participle making a stink, simple past and past participle made a stink)

  1. (colloquial) To complain; to demand attention or remedy for a problem.
    • If nothing happens when you ask nicely, make a stink until something gets done.

Forms of make a stink

third-person singular presentmakes a stink
present participlemaking a stink
past participlemade a stink
pastmade a stink

Questions about make a stink

What does make a stink mean?
Make a stink means to complain; to demand attention or remedy for a problem.
What part of speech is make a stink?
Make a stink is a verb.
What is the past tense of make a stink?
The past tense of make a stink is made a stink.

Words near make a stink in the dictionary

  1. make a spectacle of oneself
  2. make a splash
  3. make a stand
  4. make a statement
  5. make a stick for one's own back
  6. make a stink
  7. make a time
  8. make a Virginia fence
  9. make a virtue of necessity
  10. make a wrong turn at Albuquerque
  11. make after

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: make a stink (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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