NOISOME Synonyms: 188 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How is the word 'noisome' distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of noisome are fetid , fusty , malodorous , musty , putrid , rank , and stinking . While all these words mean "bad-smelling," noisome adds a suggestion of being harmful or unwholesome as well as offensive. // a stagnant, noisome sewer

Q: How do 'fusty' and 'musty' relate to one another, in the sense of 'noisome'?

Both fusty and musty suggest lack of fresh air and sunlight, fusty also implying prolonged uncleanliness, musty stressing the effects of dampness, mildew, or age. // a fusty attic // the musty odor of a damp cellar

Q: When could 'malodorous' be used to replace 'noisome'?

The words malodorous and noisome are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, malodorous may range from the unpleasant to the strongly offensive. // malodorous fertilizers

Q: When might 'putrid' be a better fit than 'noisome'?

While the synonyms putrid and noisome are close in meaning, putrid implies particularly the sickening odor of decaying organic matter. // the putrid smell of rotting fish

Q: When is it sensible to use 'rank' instead of 'noisome'?

While in some cases nearly identical to noisome , rank suggests a strong unpleasant smell. // rank cigar smoke

Q: How are the words 'stinking' and 'fetid' related as synonyms of 'noisome'?

Both stinking and fetid suggest the foul or disgusting. // prisoners were held in stinking cells // the fetid odor of skunk cabbage

noisome

adjective

ˈnȯi-səm

Definition of noisome

as in disgusting

causing intense displeasure, disgust, or resentment a noisome remark about my weight that stuck with me for days

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in stinking

having an unpleasant smell the noisome air of the area of the city that was downwind of the dog food factory

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in poisonous

bad for the well-being of the body it's no fun having asthma and living in an area with noisome smog

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How is the word noisome distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of noisome are fetid, fusty, malodorous, musty, putrid, rank, and stinking. While all these words mean "bad-smelling," noisome adds a suggestion of being harmful or unwholesome as well as offensive.

a stagnant, noisome sewer

How do fusty and musty relate to one another, in the sense of noisome?

Both fusty and musty suggest lack of fresh air and sunlight, fusty also implying prolonged uncleanliness, musty stressing the effects of dampness, mildew, or age.

a fusty attic

the musty odor of a damp cellar

When could malodorous be used to replace noisome?

The words malodorous and noisome are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, malodorous may range from the unpleasant to the strongly offensive.

malodorous fertilizers

When might putrid be a better fit than noisome?

While the synonyms putrid and noisome are close in meaning, putrid implies particularly the sickening odor of decaying organic matter.

the putrid smell of rotting fish

When is it sensible to use rank instead of noisome?

While in some cases nearly identical to noisome, rank suggests a strong unpleasant smell.

rank cigar smoke

How are the words stinking and fetid related as synonyms of noisome?

Both stinking and fetid suggest the foul or disgusting.

prisoners were held in stinking cells

the fetid odor of skunk cabbage

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of noisome Having gone in the tank for Griffin, North Carolina’s highest courts are a noisome example of why partisanship ought to have no place in judicial selection. — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 13 May 2025 Performers like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, who long ago bartered their integrity and believability for money and ratings, can peddle their noisome pro-Trump propaganda on Fox News. — Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2022 But her water bowl is filled with a noisome black, brackish liquid — what has fouled it, and for how long, is anyone’s guess. — Gene Weingarten, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2021 And there were some years where his fame was turned infamous by serious accusations of the most noisome acts. — Ashley Cullins, Billboard, 3 May 2021 Auschwitz was his laboratory, offering limitless subjects and unbound by noisome ethical inhibitions. — David Margolick, WSJ, 24 Jan. 2020 Farmers agreed to reduce the emissions of the country’s noisome pigs. — The Economist, 9 July 2019

Recent Examples of Synonyms for noisome

Adjective

That’s likely to inspire either affection or immediate exhaustion, depending on your fondness for the infamously disgusting performance group.

— Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 8 Oct. 2026
People tend to think of waste as trash, sewage, slag, manure and other seemingly useless or disgusting substances.

— Edward D. Melillo, The Conversation, 30 Sep. 2026

Definition of disgusting

Adjective

For this argument Thomasine was jailed—stuffed into a damp, stinking, deadly stone cell crawling with rats and lice—to force her to change her beliefs.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
America’s political landscape has become a stinking mess.

— Mary Ellen Klas, Boston Herald, 1 June 2026

Definition of stinking

Adjective

With the throne disengaged from governance, petitions and reports from officials piled up unread, crucial state posts went unfilled, and the imperial bureaucracy splintered amid poisonous factional infighting.

— Carl Minzner, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2026
With this potential even more poisonous investments in the bloated and indebted Paramount behemoth, there’s even more reason to reject it.

— Abigail Disney, New York Daily News, 28 Sep. 2026

Definition of poisonous

Adjective

My right pants leg was gone and among the smaller cuts an ugly gash puckered at me from the calf.

— Gerald R. Hunter, Outdoor Life, 15 Oct. 2026
The first attempts at a foldable smartphone in the 2010s from other companies tended to be fragile and not all that useful, with a big, ugly crease in the center interrupting the experience.

— Andrew R. Chow, Time, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of ugly

Adjective

The bodies of Machado and her daughters were discovered days later after a neighbor noticed a foul odor coming from the home.

— CBS Miami Team, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026
Caminero pulled Smith’s first-pitch splitter off the left-field foul pole for a two-run homer that gave the Rays a 5-1 lead.

— ABC News, ABC News, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of foul

Adjective

All of this means a highly unpredictable world is the brain’s worst nightmare—and the uncertainty that results can quickly become toxic.

— Maia Szalavitz, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
The arrival of hunter-killer chemistry suggests this persistent toxic legacy might finally be coming to an end.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of toxic

Adjective

Hell, even recurring characters drop off without so much as the courtesy of a sickening demise.

— Ben Travers, IndieWire, 13 Oct. 2026
Hersh was held hostage for 328 sickening, agonizing, and starving days until his captors executed him with five other young and luminous people in a tunnel underneath Gaza.

— Rachel Goldberg-Polin, Time, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of sickening

Articles Related to noisome

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“Noisome.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/noisome. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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