skunky

English

Etymology

From skunk +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ʌŋki

Adjective

skunky (comparative skunkier, superlative skunkiest)

1. (Canada, US, colloquial) Mean, contemptible. [from 19th c.]
   • 1944, Patricia Highsmith, Her Diaries and Notebooks, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2021, April 4:

     Don't know when to expect reimbursements from Chloe. After all this time I consider her behavior skunky.

2. Resembling a skunk; especially, having a strong or unpleasant odor or (of food, drink) taste. [from 19th c.]
   • 2023, Brandon Taylor, The Late Americans, Jonathan Cape, page 116:

     Sure enough, he had the skunky odor of marijuana.

   • 2004, Harold McGee, chapter 13, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Scribner, →ISBN:

     One American brewer with trademark clear bottles developed a modified hop extract that’s free of the vulnerable hop acid, and this prevents its beer from going skunky.