noisome

noisome
adjective
noi·;some ;n;i-s;m
Synonyms of noisome
1
: noxious, harmful
a noisome pestilence
2
a
: offensive to the senses and especially to the sense of smell
noisome garbage
b
: highly obnoxious or objectionable
noisome habits
noisomely adverb
noisomeness noun


Did you know?
Noisome looks and sounds like a close relation of noisy, but it’s not. While noisy describes what is excessively loud, noisome typically describes what is excessively stinky. (It is also used to describe things offensive to the senses generally, as well as things that are highly obnoxious, objectionable, or simply harmful.) Noisome comes from the synonymous Middle English noysome, which combines the suffix -some, meaning “characterized by a specified thing,” and the noun noy, meaning “annoyance.” Noisy, incidentally, comes ultimately from Latin nausea, meaning “nausea.”

Synonyms
insalubrious
noxious
sickly
unhealthful
unhealthy
unwholesome
Choose the Right Synonym for noisome

malodorous, stinking, fetid, noisome, putrid, rank, fusty, musty mean bad-smelling.

malodorous may range from the unpleasant to the strongly offensive.

malodorous fertilizers
stinking and fetid suggest the foul or disgusting.

prisoners were held in stinking cells
the fetid odor of skunk cabbage
noisome adds a suggestion of being harmful or unwholesome as well as offensive.

a stagnant, noisome sewer
putrid implies particularly the sickening odor of decaying organic matter.

the putrid smell of rotting fish
rank suggests a strong unpleasant smell.

rank cigar smoke
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
Examples of noisome in a Sentence
it's no fun having asthma and living in an area with noisome smog
a noisome remark about my weight that stuck with me for days
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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
To question the sincerity of the president’s rhetoric—and that of his party—is not to dismiss the challenge posed by the various noisome currents of antidemocratic sentiment and behavior running through our politics like the effluence of overflowing sewers.
—Gerard Baker, WSJ, 7 Nov. 2022

Word History
Etymology
Middle English noysome, from noy annoyance, alteration of anoi, from Anglo-French anui, from anuier to harass, annoy — more at annoy

First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of noisome was in the 14th century
See more words from the same century