This week’s theme
Words used figuratively

This week’s words
effervescent
malodorous
piquant
fulgent
aspersion

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(mal-OH-duhr-uhs)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Having a foul smell.
2. Highly improper.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old French mal- (bad) + odorous (having a smell), from Latin odor (smell). Earliest documented use: 1850.

USAGE:

“One challenge of drilling oil wells is what to do with ‘produced water’ -- a malodorous liquid, fortified with heavy metals.”
Patrick Radden Keefe; Reversal of Fortune; The New Yorker; Jan 9, 2012.

“Those who believe, as the neocons did, that the focus of foreign policy should be to promote liberal democracy, will find much to disapprove of. But a policy of pinching one’s nose and engaging with malodorous regimes has its merits.”
Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy; The Economist (London, UK); Mar 14, 2009.

See more usage examples of malodorous in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: