fetid
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of fetid
1590–1600; < Latin fētidus, equivalent to fēt- (stem of fētēre to stink) + -idus -id 4
Explanation
If you want to understand the true meaning of fetid, leave your sweaty gym clothes in your locker for a few days. Fetid is a fancy way of saying that something smells really bad. From the Latin word meaning "stinking," this adjective has been in use since the early 15th century, which was a particularly fetid time in history — showers, laundry detergent, and deodorant had not yet been invented. Here's an easy way to remember it: "the fe(e)t (d)id stink." It's sometimes spelled foetid.
Vocabulary lists containing fetid
The Nose Knows: Olfactory Vocabulary
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
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Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Then he got in another brawl, was imprisoned in Fort St. Angelo, escaped, and was formally expelled by the Order—the recorded language is “like a rotten and fetid limb.”
From Slate • Jun. 6, 2026
Mystified, he wanders the dank halls of their rented palazzo and the fetid alleyways of the “pestilential city” where canal waters slither past like “a fat, grey-green worm.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025
Pawpaws' maroon flowers and fetid odor suggest that flies and beetles are the plant's primary pollinators.
From Salon • Aug. 14, 2024
It is all too easy to find yourself submerged in fetid water, or sucked into a slurry of thick, black mud.
From National Geographic • Feb. 16, 2024
The fetid stench that had hung over the city for weeks was gone, replaced with brittle, pure air.
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
