How to Use stink in a Sentence

stink

1 of 2 verb
  • The food is good at that restaurant, but the service stinks.
  • Having a root canal stinks.
  • He got canned because his team stinks.
    — Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Feb. 2026
  • This team stinks without him on the floor.
    — Zach Harper, New York Times, 26 Jan. 2026
  • This is gonna be all day, the meat’s gonna start to stink, etc.
    — Vulture, 14 Nov. 2022
  • That stinks enough on its own, in a 68-team world.
    — Joe Rexrode, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2026
  • The law stinks because this dude could not tell wrong from right.
    — John Archibald | [email protected], al, 25 Oct. 2019
  • For some people, tea bags are the key to stink-free shoes.
    — Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 7 Aug. 2025
  • With three kids often comes a lot of mess and, well, stink.
    — Anna Halkidis, Parents, 14 Oct. 2025
  • So why does Idaho stink in this study?
    — Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 19 Aug. 2025
  • Good luck trying to wash that stink off of you in this day and age.
    — Matt Reigle Outkick, FOXNews.com, 28 Apr. 2026
  • The Bills’ rush defense stinks.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 16 Jan. 2026
  • No one says anyone has to accept that the team stinks.
    — Nick Suss, Nashville Tennessean, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Then there are the optics, and the optics stink.
    — Matt Klink, Oc Register, 17 Mar. 2026
  • If the new rules stink, the league can scrap them after one season.
    — Joe Nguyen, The Denver Post, 21 June 2019
  • Their loan portfolio is said to, well, stink.
    — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 1 Mar. 2026
  • His eyes are healthy, although his vision stinks.
    — Literary Hub, 10 Apr. 2026
  • Even if the team stinks, baseball remains good white noise for the home.
    — Mac Engel, star-telegram, 5 May 2018
  • Nix can sling it with Sam Darnold all stinking day.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Also, the palace stinks of humans.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Also, the palace stinks of humans.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2025
  • But who cares about stinking elections?
    — Jackie Calmes, Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2025
  • Sewages can stink for many reasons, but one of the main culprits is a clogged pipe.
    — Chandra Fleming, Detroit Free Press, 21 Oct. 2022
  • The train’s toilets began to back up and the air began to stink.
    — Eric Spitznagel, Popular Mechanics, 27 Dec. 2019
  • The economics stink for artists.
    — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 13 Feb. 2026
  • If someone stinks and has options, send him back to the minors.
    — John Shipley, Twin Cities, 22 May 2026
  • The free speech argument stinks.
    — Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Tanker lorries parked by the roadside suck up stinking waste.
    — The Economist, 24 May 2018
  • There could be many reasons why your furry friend may stink, even after a bath.
    — Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 23 Oct. 2022
  • The old dog slowed to a stop, nose full of bird stink, feathery tail quivering.
    — Joel M. Vance, Outdoor Life, 29 Oct. 2025

stink

2 of 2 noun
  • Just causing a stink to cause one.
    — Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Aug. 2025
  • His stink didn’t get too much on me, to be honest.
    — Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 26 Nov. 2025
  • And a stubborn hope that the stink could be blown out of the room.
    — Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2020
  • And how, really, that word has got such a stink on it.
    — Stephen Schaefer, Boston Herald, 25 May 2026
  • Newport is putting up a stink about its worst problem — the stench.
    — Bob Shaw, Twin Cities, 23 Oct. 2019
  • The sewage stink had been a subject of complaints for more than three years.
    — Jesse Leavenworth, courant.com, 17 Sep. 2021
  • Again, the best way to change this is to make a stink with your employer.
    — Shira Ovide, Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2023
  • With the monster vanquished, the stink of evil can begin to be scrubbed away.
    — Chris Wiley, The New Yorker, 10 Jan. 2024
  • Brown marmorated stink bugs can enter through cracks and crevices.
    — Emily Deletter, The Enquirer, 13 Oct. 2022
  • Plus, it's infused with gold (yes, really) to fend off stink.
    — Christian Gollayan, Men's Health, 2 May 2022
  • That branding is a stink that doesn’t easily wash out and should be avoided at all costs.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 24 July 2022
  • But the odor from the world of (stink) lingers at Broncos headquarters.
    — Mark Kiszla, The Denver Post, 23 Oct. 2019
  • Wallace went down the half-rotten stairs and came closer to the dense algal stink of the lake.
    — New York Times, 18 Feb. 2020
  • Call it the stink of being square, which turned those body styles into icons of the grocery-store parking lot.
    — Jonathon Ramsey, Car and Driver, 27 Oct. 2021
  • Make a reservation, mask up and, as my father-in-law used to say, get out of the house and blow the stink off ya.
    — Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2021
  • For him, the most revolting thing about his life in Iran was its pervasive stink.
    — Amir Ahmadi Arian, The Dial, 15 Jan. 2026
  • Toyota wore the stink of appliance-grade transportation with pride for a long time.
    — K.c. Colwell, Car and Driver, 4 Nov. 2022
  • Follow our steps to clean the trash can liner, eliminating germs and the stink in the process.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Unlike those two-stroke trimmers, this is a fraction of the noise and–of course–there’s no stink from exhaust fumes.
    — Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 25 Apr. 2023
  • The most valuable floors in a building were no longer those near the ground, but the ones at the top, away from the stink and noise of the street.
    — Tom Standage, The Economist, 17 Aug. 2020
  • Give me some rats, some City Hall cronyism; evoke the stink of trash on an August day.
    — Vulture, 26 Apr. 2023
  • Sure, any kind of frying can be a bit messy, but the stink of oil and the plumes of onion and potato—that’s Hanukkah for me.
    — Bon Appétit, 1 Dec. 2020
  • Returning to the restaurant for the first time, he was hit by a stink that seemed to be coming from the stream below ground.
    — Christina Tkacik, baltimoresun.com, 9 Dec. 2020
  • On the slopes of Gorubun, there was no stink of something burning, and the pastures seemed green and peaceful.
    — Ew Staff, EW.com, 2 Oct. 2020
  • By following the above advice, gym clothing stink should become a terror of the past.
    — Wendy Rose Gould, NBC News, 11 Sep. 2019
  • Dog owners have shared horror stories about the lingering stink.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 25 June 2026
  • Lyla had this stink face the entire time because she wasn't used to the humidity and the noise and the smells.
    — Matt Ortile, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Nov. 2023
  • To add to the list of unavoidable stink bug attractions, these insects love warmth and sunlight.
    — Natalie Schumann, Country Living, 14 June 2022
  • Not a dumb guy, Orton made enough stink that the Cowboys released him rather than put up with all the noise.
    — Kevin Sherrington, Dallas News, 3 May 2020
  • The stink began long before the fermentation set in.
    — Shindy Chen, Charlotte Observer, 13 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stink.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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