bad smell
Nose-wrinkling stink
A bad smell is an unpleasant odor—something that offends the nose.
The phrase is straightforward and general, covering anything from mildly off-putting to nauseating: There's a bad smell coming from the fridge, The bad smell turned out to be a dead mouse in the wall.
Unlike specific terms like stench or reek, bad smell makes no claim about intensity.
- stenchPowerfully offensive odor
- reekEmit strong odor
- stinkOffensive smell
- body odorHuman sweat smell
- foulOffensive or illegal
rotten · rotten eggs · putrid · rank · musty · fetid · locker room · odor · garbage · garbage dump · sulfur · sulfur dioxide · sewage · skunk · decay · dead fish · nauseating · rancid
olfactory pleasantness
bad smellfragrance
Pleasing olfactory quality
perfume · sweet smell · bouquet · fresh scent · floral scent
bad, badly, badness, smell, smells, smelled, smelling, smelly, smellier