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Definition
bad — most directly referring to the smell of oils or fats that have decomposed because they are not fresh enough, but metaphorically the word can refer to anything considered badMuch more rarely, rancid can reference anything that is repugnant or offensive — such as disgusting comments.
- We left the butter outside the refrigerator too long and it turned rancid.
rancid = bad smelling — because the oils have decomposed because they are not fresh enough, but metaphorically the word can refer to anything considered bad
- The bacon smells rancid.
- Partly because his rancid smell was now up close and personal.Rick Riordan -- The Sea of Monsters
- good fat didn't reach the zeks, and the rancid all went into the soup kettleAlexander Solzhenitsyn -- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
- Albert Left Hand was a short, fat man who smelled of rancid mutton tallow.Hal Borland -- When the Legends Die
- To the college guys in the dorm room with ... and the couch that smelled like rancid beer.Sarah Dessen -- Dreamland
- I could feel The Mother's rancid breath on my neck and hear her cold voice chanting that there was no escape and that she would never let me go.Dave Pelzer -- The Lost Boy
- some rancid lardRoald Dahl -- Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
- If he had left out that old rancid one about the lecturer I wouldn't have said anything; but I couldn't stand that one.Mark Twain -- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
- Supper, when it was brought in by Moses, consisted of a tray of tea, some bread and rather rancid butter, and a chunk of cold meat.Doris Lessing -- The Grass is Singing
- Leon's rancid breath—didn't he ever eat anything else but bacon, for crissakes—filled the air as he stood beside Brian looking over the tabulations.Robert Cormier -- The Chocolate War
- Our noses told us, first, that the place was filthy: somewhere plumbing had backed up, the bedding was soiled and rancid.Corrie ten Boom -- The Hiding Place
- He thrust his face into hers, forcing her to breathe his rancid breath; his untrimmed nails bit into her arms.Gish Jen -- Typical American
- Carrie could see beneath the surface to where the real Miss Desjardin was giggling and chuckling with rancid old-maid ribaldry.Stephen King -- Carrie
- The smells were rancid—cigarettes, marijuana, old food, sweat, decay.Dave Eggers -- Zeitoun
- Neumann One shoulders out, something rancid in his eyes.Anthony Doerr -- All the Light We Cannot See
- The very idea that he and Roland could in any way be on the same side makes him feel like he swallowed something rancid.Neal Shusterman -- Unwind
- From the trench in the pavement, the rank, persistent damp mingled with the odor of rancid milk in the wagon.Henry Roth -- Call It Sleep
- That filthy pen of mud a foot deep, and of odor rancid, had no terrors for her.Zane Grey -- The Call of the Canyon
- The more watery I make the soup and the more rancid the cheese, and the worse I make the coarse talk and proddings of the keepers, the better he likes it.Margaret Atwood -- Alias Grace
rancid = repugnant or offensive
rancid = a state of decomposition of oils or fats such that they smell and taste bad
rancid = rotting (smelling bad)
rancid = a state of decomposition that smells bad
rancid = bad smelling
rancid = bad-smelling because it is not fresh