stink

If something smells bad, it stinks. This popular word is an irregular verb:

• What stinks?
• This stinks!
• My dog stinks. She needs a bath.
• Rotten food stinks.
• I put some leftover fish in the microwave and it stunk up the entire house. (Notice that "up" often appears after "stink.")
• Something in the backseat is stinking up the entire car.
• John used the bathroom and stunk it up so badly that no one could go in there.
• Something stinks in the garage. I think it’s a dead animal.
• Cat urine really stinks.

You can also use "stink" to talk about a bad situation, a thing, or a person’s abilties:

• Our basketball team stinks.
• He’s not a very good guitarist. In fact, he really stinks on guitar.
• The new rules we have at work stink.
• Wow, that movie really stunk.
• My German stinks. I have to practice more.

The word "stinky" is an adjective:

• Throw that stinky thing in the garbage!
• This cheese is really stinky, but it tastes good.
• Gabriel hasn’t bathed in three days, and now he’s really stinky.
• There’s something stinky in my garage.

It is possible to use "stink" as a noun:

• What’s that stink?
• The cat peed on the carpet, but we couldn’t get the stink out of it, so we needed to throw it away.
• There’s an odd stink in the air. What is that?

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January 30, 2020