Standard Lemma guide

malodorous

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌmælˈəʊ.də.ɹəs/
  • US: /ˌmælˈoʊ.də.ɹəs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having a bad odor.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • There were malodorous garbage bags aplenty outside her house.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Highly improper.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

having an unpleasant smell

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: malodourous, unpleasant-smelling, ill-smelling, stinky

Antonyms: fragrant

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin maleder. Old French mal- English mal- English odorous English malodorous From mal- + odorous.

Across languages

Translations

19 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bashkir: һаҫыҡ (haśıq) — having a bad odor
  • Bulgarian: зловонен (zlovonen) — having a bad odor
  • Czech: zapáchající — having a bad odor
  • Czech: páchnoucí — having a bad odor
  • Dutch: malodorant — having a bad odor
  • Dutch: stinkend — having a bad odor
  • Dutch: onwelriekend — having a bad odor
  • Esperanto: malbonodora — having a bad odor
  • French: malodorant — having a bad odor
  • Occitan: pudent — having a bad odor
  • Polish: cuchnący — having a bad odor
  • Polish: śmierdzący — having a bad odor
  • Russian: злово́нный (zlovónnyj) — having a bad odor
  • Spanish: maloliente — having a bad odor
  • Spanish: jediondo — having a bad odor
  • Swedish: illaluktande — having a bad odor
  • Swedish: stinkande — having a bad odor
  • Volapük: lusmelik — having a bad odor
  • Polish: nieprzyzwoity — highly improper