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Saturday September 24, 2005

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fetid \FET-id; FEE-tid\ , adjective:
Having an offensive smell; stinking.

The air was fetid, heavy as the breath of a large animal.
-- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, Bad Dreams

He grew up between the river and the vineyard-covered slopes, between the fetid smell of the tannery and the fine aroma of crushed grapes.
-- Patrice Debré, Louis Pasteur (translated by Elborg Forster)

Fetid derives from Latin fetidus, from fetere, "to stink."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for fetid

 

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