: any of various common omnivorous black-and-white New World mammals (family Mephitidae, especially genus Mephitis) related to weasels that have a pair of perineal glands from which a secretion of pungent and offensive odor is ejected
Noun
Her brother's a low-down, dirty skunk.
he's nothing but a dirty, rotten skunkVerb
we ended up skunking them, as our goalie was able to prevent the other team from scoring a single goal
our football team consistently skunks our traditional rivals Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving
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Noun
In the last few years, perhaps after an adaptive mutation, bird flu has jumped to a wide number of mammal species, including seals, bears, skunks, foxes, cougars, bobcats, dolphins and even a polar bear.—Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY, 7 Feb. 2025 The Southwest Virginia Wildlife rescued an extremely rare, and very cute, skunk earlier this month.—Sabrina Moreno, Axios, 30 Jan. 2025
Verb
At the diner, Case, now 54, wore a dark-blue button-down, and her predominantly gray mane was skunked with a streak of flaming auburn.—Lindsay Zoladz, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2025 And the fact that he’s getting skunked on a rubberlegs stonefly nymph, which should be automatic, is troubling all three of us.—Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 25 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for skunk
Word History
Etymology
Noun
earlier squuncke, from a Massachusett reflex of Algonquian *šeka·kwa, from šek- urinate + -a·kw fox, fox-like animal
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