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Glite Dictionary
to stunk on ice

to stunk on ice

9.9
To be very poor and disappointing
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : fue un desastre
  • It used to be the most exciting business in the world, and now it stinks on ice.

Examples

  • It stinks on ice.

    Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)

  • The team's performance during the match really stunk on ice, leading to a disappointing outcome.

  • We all knew that Moon's competing rag was a pile of dung, but who knew the WaPo also stank on ice?

    Blog text (21)

  • Many critics agree that the movie stunk on ice, failing to meet even the lowest expectations.

  • After the latest update, the app stunk on ice, causing frustration among its users.

Synonyms

underwhelming
vsto stunk on ice
12 4.4

Less impressive or exciting than you expect

is stronger, meaning extremely poor rather than mildly unimpressive
bungled
vsto stunk on ice
4 6.1

Made worse because someone handled it badly

is broader, simply saying something was very poor rather than blaming mishandling
botched
vsto stunk on ice
2 5.9

Ruined because someone did the job badly

focuses on poor quality without implying a specific cause like incompetence
to suck rocks
vsto stunk on ice
  • Informal
1 9.9

To be very bad or disappointing

is used more broadly to describe extreme low quality or failure
poopie
vsto stunk on ice
  • Informal
1 9.2

An informal word used to say something is bad or low quality

is stronger and more idiomatic, stressing very low quality
like shit on toast
vsto stunk on ice
  • Offensive
9.9

Something that is very bad and unpleasant

is the informal, idiomatic way to stress extreme poor quality
dissatisfactory
vsto stunk on ice
6.5

Not as good as expected or needed

is informal and idiomatic, conveying much stronger negative judgment

Antonyms

to thrive
241 3.2

To grow well and be successful

How Bad

to stunk on ice
  • Informal
9.9
terrible
∞ 1.0
awful
∞ 1.0
lousy
  • Informal
562 4.1
poor
838 1.0
passable
8 4.4

Surface Forms

stunk on ice infinitive
stunk on ice past
stunk on ice past participle
stunk on ice present participle
stunk on ice third person singular

Morphology

stink + on + ice

The core negative meaning comes from 'stink' (to be very bad), so a B1 learner who knows that verb would likely infer the MWE expresses poor quality. However, the phrase 'on ice' here is an idiomatic intensifier whose contribution is not literally predictable from 'on' + 'ice', so the full form is not wholly compositional. Because the verb provides much of the meaning but the particle phrase is idiomatic, this is best described as partially transparent.

Etymology

Stunk on ice may come from a market image: imagine a fish put on ice to hide its smell, but it still stunk so badly that everyone knew it was rotten. That's why the phrase means 'very bad' or 'extremely disappointing'.