Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having an offensive odor.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having an offensive smell; stinking.
- n. See fetid, fetor.
Wiktionary
- adj. Foul-smelling.
- n. The foul-smelling Asafoetida plant, or its extracts.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having an offensive smell; stinking.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. offensively malodorous
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Latin fētidus, from fētēre, to stink.
Examples
“The Ephemerides, Schurig, 9.18 and Hoffman report instances of what they call fetid semen (possibly a complication of urethral disease).”
“The Ephemerides, Schurig, and Hoffman report instances of what they call fetid semen (possibly a complication of urethral disease).”
“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 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
“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).”
“Bank has described as fetid sewers and cities listed among the world's most polluted.”
“In the midst of all the current turmoil, it is worthwhile to recall the fetid episode involving former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, who in the fall of 2003 was caught stealing documents from the National Archives, which he later destroyed.”
“In the Believer, author and filmmaker C.S. Leigh fondly recalls a fetid human experience.”
“Tricot had suffered greatly; only some fragments of his hands remained; but, above all, he had a great opening in his side, a kind of fetid mouth, through which the will to live seemed to evaporate.”
“I’m calling fetid bullsh*t, aphid — the emigration of nazis to Argentina does not make it a “goose-stepping” nation “giving aid and comfort to the enemies of America” — you get an F.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘fetid’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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Stink Different™
What-the-smell is that?
hircine, jumentous, hyena butter, cadaverine, new car smell, teen spirit, parosmia, hircismus, ylang-ylang, burnt hair, hydrogen sulfide, gay bomb and 111 more...
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That STINKS!
Words having to do with terrible smells.
odor, putrid, stank, stink, smell, horrid, foul, putrecence, awful, rotting, garbage, toilet and 14 more...
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trait treats
efficacious, garish, implacable, intrepid, soporific, somniferous, fetid, lurid, undaunted, debonair, quiescent, fabulist
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Insulting or rather nasty words
fetid, malodorous, salacious, lurid, lugubrious, viscid, curmudgeon, tawdry, agglutinate, glaucous, grotty
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Homonyms That Are Antonyms
Got this idea from a Bizarro Cartoon. Let's find some others!
raise, raze, bate, bait, chilly, chile, complacent, complaisant, aweful, awful, reck, wreck and 8 more...
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jimwood60's list
Fav Work words
ameliorated, lemmings, facile, incongruous, bulbous, spurious, fetid, malfeasance, inopportune

rolig also spelt foetid (BrE). Jul 27, 2011
kingparton 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 Jul 27, 2011
yarb Citation on pus. Jun 22, 2008
chained_bear This word is fun to say as if you were one of the weird sisters in "Macbeth": fetid and fouuuuul! Oct 26, 2007