Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having an offensive odor.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having an offensive smell; stinking.
  • noun See fetid, fetor.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having an offensive smell; stinking.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Foul-smelling, Stinking.
  • noun rare The foul-smelling assafoetida plant, or its extracts.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective offensively malodorous

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin fētidus, from fētēre, to stink.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Latin adjective, fetidus ("having offensive odour") (often incorrectly foetidus, giving rise to the variant spelling), originally feteo ("to stink").

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Examples

  • The Ephemerides, Schurig, and Hoffman report instances of what they call fetid semen (possibly a complication of urethral disease).

    Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine 1896

  • The Ephemerides, Schurig, 9.18 and Hoffman report instances of what they call fetid semen (possibly a complication of urethral disease).

    Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine 1896

  • It was piercing cold, with a burning sun; and we experienced a nasty, choking, sickening smell of sulphur, which arose in fetid puffs from the many-coloured surface – dead white, purple, dull red, green, and brilliant yellow.

    The Romance of Isabel, Lady Burton William Henry Burton Wilkins 1897

  • The Vale of the Asphaltites is further remarkable for a species of limestone called the fetid, the smell of which, as its name imports, is extremely offensive.

    Palestine or the Holy Land From the Earliest Period to the Present Time Michael Russell 1814

  • The air defines the word fetid, with overcrowded conditions and men shuffling around in their orange socks and flip-flops, wearing various uniforms to describe their situation (pre-trial or serving time).

    Jibstay 2008

  • Bank has described as fetid sewers and cities listed among the world's most polluted.

    SFGate: Top News Stories By KATY DAIGLE 2010

  • Bank has described as fetid sewers and cities listed among the world's most polluted.

    StarTribune.com rss feed 2010

  • Bank has described as fetid sewers and cities listed among the world's most polluted.

    Kansas City Star: Front Page 2010

  • Bank has described as fetid sewers and cities listed among the world's most polluted.

    Kansas City Star: Front Page 2010

  • Bank has described as fetid sewers and cities listed among the world's most polluted.

    Kansas City Star: Front Page 2010

Comments

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  • This word is fun to say as if you were one of the weird sisters in "Macbeth": fetid and fouuuuul!

    October 26, 2007

  • Citation on pus.

    June 22, 2008

  • There will be no people living in fetid dens and fetid rags, and bringing up unhealthy, hunger-pinched children in the midst of impossible and absolutely repulsive surroundings.

    Oscar Wilde, De Profundis

    July 27, 2011

  • also spelt foetid (BrE).

    July 27, 2011