Skip to main content
mephitic

mephitic

1 9.9
A strong, harmful smell from rot or pollution that makes it hard to breathe
  • adjective
  • /məˈfɪtɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : mefítico
  • That and promoting the pestilential "cultural" (now an omnibus term) sewage exuding its mephitic vapors that goes by the oxymoronic term "pop culture."

Examples

  • Where once I smelled lavender and salt, now I have a mephitic stench.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Some of us breathe oxygen and we find the mephitic fumes of his oratory a lethal challenge to our pulmonary capabilities!

  • Emerson had "no great thought or purpose in him," and his work was, in fact, "somehow mephitic."

    Academic text (2010)
  • The wood parts, made of obdurate walnut to resist damp and warpage, he had sawed, sanded, and fitted, inhaling the mephitic dust.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Suburbia, with its neatly manicured lawns, its sinister hypocrisies, and repressed mephitic resentments, was not the place for a pure soul like his.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Long and deep trenches were excavated, and the corpses were covered with lime to prevent corruption of the air and release of mephitic vapors (Instruction XXXII).

    Academic text (2013)
  • Painting is bred in mephitic inhalations, sticky pigments, and stubborn stains that stick to the painter's body, defiant of hard scrubs.

    Academic text (2015)
  • The workers wore masks to avoid the mephitic fumes emanating from the old factory.

  • After the storm, the alley was filled with a mephitic smell of decay from the garbage.

  • He couldn't breathe due to the mephitic air in the abandoned building.

Synonyms

smelly
vsmephitic
118 1.0

Giving off a strong, unpleasant stink

is often a poisonous or noxious vapour not just an ordinary bad smell
stinky
vsmephitic
60 1.0

Having a very bad smell

is more harmful and poisonous rather than casual or colloquial
putrid
vsmephitic
12 7.0

Rotting and smelling very bad

is a poisonous or noxious smell not only limited to decay
foul-smelling
vsmephitic
7 4.1

A very strong stink that makes you want to move away

is specifically harmful or poisonous smelling rather than just offensive
odiferous
vsmephitic
1 8.5

Having a strong smell that is often unpleasant

is a harmful poisonous smelling vapour not just a distinctive scent
miasmic
vsmephitic
1 9.9

Full of a strong bad smell that makes the air feel unhealthy

is a poisonous noxious smell often from pollution or decay
putrid-smelling
vsmephitic
1 8.2

A very bad smell like rotten food

is a poisonous noxious smell that can come from decay or pollution
unpleasant-smelling
vsmephitic
1 3.8

Having a bad smell that people do not like

is more than offensive being toxic or noxious in many cases
miasmatic
vsmephitic
9.9

Smelling bad and making the air feel heavy and unhealthy

is specifically a poisonous or noxious smell from pollution or decay

Antonyms

390 1.0

Has nothing mixed with it

314 1.0

Clean air or water that has no harmful things

How Noxious

mephitic
  • Specialized
1 9.9
foul
24 3.0
smelly
118 1.0
odorous
1 5.5

Surface Forms

mephitic positive

Morphology

mephitic = mephitis (opaque) = mephit + ic

The adjective is formed regularly from the noun 'mephitis' by the productive suffix '-ic'.

Etymology

The word mephitic comes from the old Latin word mephitis, which meant 'poisonous air' or a bad smell from swamps and rotting things. So, mephitic describes a gas or smell that is foul and harmful to breathe.