stinker
UK/ˈstɪŋ.kə(ɹ)/US/ˈstɪŋ.kɚ/
stinker noun: one who stinks.
Noun
stinker (plural stinkers)
- One who stinks.
- Skunks are the worst stinkers in the animal kingdom.
- A contemptible person or thing.
- "Stop squallin', you little stinker!" She struck the child with her open hand across the face.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019
- "But it's far worse for me," said Edmund, "because you'll at least have a room of your own and I shall have to share a bedroom with that record stinker, Eustace."1952, C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- Something difficult (e.g. a given puzzle) or unpleasant (e.g. negative review, nasty letter).
- Today's crossword is a stinker.
- I number several authors among my acquaintance […] and they invariably become all of a doodah when they read a stinker in the press about their latest effort.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter V, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- hatchet job, nastygram
- Something of poor quality.
- The barely-released stinker Dark Tide continues Stockwell’s fetishistic pattern, coming alive whenever it’s paddling among the sharks off the South African coast and settling in for a long snooze once it gets back on the boat or reaches dry land.2002 April 19, Scott Tobias, “Dark Tide”, in AV Club
- Steven Pinker, Rational Thinker: His new book is a stinker. [title]2021 September 30, Ted McCormick, “Steven Pinker, Rational Thinker”, in Slate
- Synonyms:
- clunker
- Any of several species of large Antarctic petrels which feed on blubber and carrion and have an offensive odour, such as the giant fulmar.
- A chemist.
- A hot day.
- Synonyms:
- scorcher
- A black eye.
- A western grey kangaroo.
- A giant petrel.
- An eastern long-necked turtle (which emits a foul-smelling musk when threatened).
stinker meaning in Tamil
stinker in Tamil
- முடை நாற்றம் உடையவர், பெறுநரை குறைகூறும், கண்டனத்துக்குரிய நபர், குறைந்த தரத்திலான பொருள்
Examples of stinker in a sentence
- Never be a stinker, because if you are, though you may flourish for a time like a green bay tree, sooner or later retribution will overtake you.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter II, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
- You become a reservoir for those little stinkers.2011, Steven Z. Kussin, Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now, page 241:
- Oh, I can't remember what else I said but, as I say, it was a stinker.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter X, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
- Now it’s over, let’s come out and say it: The Rings of Power was a stinker [title]2022 October 17, Stuart Heritage, “Now it’s over, let’s come out and say it: The Rings of Power was a stinker”, in The Guardian:
Synonyms of stinker
Forms of stinker
| plural | stinkers |
|---|
Origin of stinker
From stink + -er.
Words formed from stinker
Words that rhyme with stinker
Questions about stinker
- What does stinker mean?
- Stinker means one who stinks.
- What is stinker in Tamil?
- Stinker in Tamil is முடை நாற்றம் உடையவர், பெறுநரை குறைகூறும், கண்டனத்துக்குரிய நபர். See Stinker meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use stinker in a sentence?
- Never be a stinker, because if you are, though you may flourish for a time like a green bay tree, sooner or later retribution will overtake you.
- What part of speech is stinker?
- Stinker is a noun.
- How do you pronounce stinker?
- Stinker is pronounced /ˈstɪŋ.kə(ɹ)/ (UK).
- What is the plural of stinker?
- The plural of stinker is stinkers.
Words near stinker in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stinker (page history and authors); stinker (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-stinker.ogg.
Cite this entry: “stinker.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stinker. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.