Reek vs Stench - What's the difference?
reek | stench |
A strong unpleasant smell.
Vapor; steam; smoke; fume.
* Shakespeare
(archaic) To be emitted or exhaled, emanate, as of vapour or perfume.
To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell.
(figuratively) To be evidently associated with something unpleasant.
(Ireland) A hill; a mountain.
a strong foul smell, a stink
(figurative) a foul quality
(obsolete) A smell or odour, not necessarily bad.
* Dryden
(obsolete) To cause to emit a disagreeable odour; to cause to stink.
To stanch.
Stench is a synonym of reek.
Stench is a antonym of reek.
As nouns the difference between reek and stench
is that reek is a strong unpleasant smell while stench is a strong foul smell, a stink.As verbs the difference between reek and stench
is that reek is to be emitted or exhaled, emanate, as of vapour or perfume while stench is to cause to emit a disagreeable odour; to cause to stink.reek
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) rek, ‘smoke, fog’, Albanian regj ‘to tan’).Vladimir Orel, A Handbook of Germanic Etymology , s.vv. “*raukiz”, “*reukanan”(Leiden: Brill, 2003), 299:303.Noun
(-)- As hateful to me as the reek of a limekiln.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) reken ‘to smoke’, from (etyl) . See above.Verb
(en verb)- You reek of perfume.
- Your fridge reeks of egg.
- The boss appointing his nephew as a director reeks of nepotism.
Etymology 3
Probably a transferred use (after Irish cruach stack (of corn), pile, mountain, hill) of a variant of rick (with which it is cognate).Noun
(s)References
* * * * * Notes:Anagrams
* ----stench
English
Noun
(es)- the stench of political corruption
- Clouds of savoury stench involve the sky.
Synonyms
* (disagreeable smell) (l), (l) (Commonwealth)Antonyms
* (disagreeable smell) (l), (l), (l)Derived terms
* (l)Verb
- (Young)
- (Harvey)