MALODOROUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does malodorous mean? 

• MALODOROUS (adjective)
  The adjective MALODOROUS has 1 sense:

1. having an unpleasant smell

  Familiarity information: MALODOROUS used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MALODOROUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having an unpleasant smell

Synonyms:

ill-smelling; malodorous; malodourous; stinky; unpleasant-smelling

Similar:

bilgy (smelling like bilge water)

fetid; foetid; foul; foul-smelling; funky; ill-scented; noisome; smelly; stinking (offensively malodorous)

frowsty; fusty; musty (stale and unclean smelling)

gamey; gamy; high ((used of the smell of meat) smelling spoiled or tainted)

mephitic; miasmic (of noxious stench from atmospheric pollution)

niffy ((British informal) malodorous)

odoriferous; odorous (emitting an odor)

putrid-smelling (having the putrid odor of decaying organic matter)

rank-smelling (having an offensive rancid odor)

reeking (giving off a strong unpleasant smell)

rancid; sour (smelling of fermentation or staleness)

Antonym:

fragrant (pleasant-smelling)

Derivation:

malodorousness (the attribute of having a strong offensive smell)

 Context examples 

Holmes had been seated for some hours in silence with his long, thin back curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing a particularly malodorous product.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We were prepared for some unpleasantness, for as we were opening the door a faint, malodorous air seemed to exhale through the gaps, but none of us ever expected such an odour as we encountered.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)