Word that means "to fill the air with a bad smell"?

Question

I'm sure there's a word for it. Example sentence:

The air was still __ with the smell of dead animals.

But I'm not a native English speaker, so I'm not sure.

Answer 1

"The air was still rank with the smell of dead animals." Rank in this case meaning an offensive smell or taste, especially one associated with decay.

Answer 2

Although this word does not fit exactly into your sentence, I'd like to suggest using the word reek to hint at the same meaning.

The air reeked of dead animals

According to Oxford Dictionary, reek means

Smell strongly and unpleasantly; stink

Answer 3

The air was still foul with the smell of dead animals.

foul

1 offensive to the senses, esp. through having a disgusting smell or taste or being unpleasantly soiled : a foul odor | his foul breath.
...
3 containing or charged with noxious matter; polluted : foul, swampy water.

New Oxford American Dictionary

Here are a few usage examples from Google Books:

Even though we were at least ten miles out in the muddy Loire estuary, the air was still foul with the stench of burning oil from the docks in St Nazaire.

Here, the heat was contained within a cavernous building, where the air was foul with the smell of coal smoke and machine oil and unwashed bodies.

The air was foul with their stench, although there seemed to be plenty of ventilation of a kind and the tunnel was dry.

Our artillery must have killed Japanese there earlier, because the air was foul with the odor of rotting flesh.

Answer 4

"The air was still "heavy" with the smell of dead animals.".

This definition of "heavy" is not exactly intuitive to non-native speakers but is generally idiomatic.

Definition of "heavy" from MWO:

g: oppressive (a heavy odor), (heavy weather), (rule with a heavy hand)

Answer 5

How about "fetid?" (I believe I have seen it spelt "fœtid," as well.)

Definition of fetid : having a heavy offensive smell
fetidly adverb.
fetidness noun.

merriam-webster.com

Answer 6

Both rancid and putrid come to mind. I like putrid more — starting with a 'p' it has more attack.

The word you choose will be the climax of the sentence.

The air was still putrid with the smell of dead animals.

Answer 7

Consider miasma. From OED:

an unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapour.

Applied to your example:

The air was still with the miasma of dead animals.

Answer 8

Pungent.

From dictionary.com: sharply affecting the organs of taste or smell, as if by a penetrating power; biting, acrid.

Answer 9

To pollute

Pollute

pəˈluːt/

Verb: pollute; 3rd person present: pollutes; past tense: polluted; past participle: polluted; gerund or present participle: polluting

Contaminate (water, the air, etc.) with harmful or poisonous substances.

Answer 10

You ask

Word that means “to fill the air with a bad smell”?

and the example question here is

The air was still __ with the smell of dead animals.

Another answer has already mentioned that foul fits the sentence, but note that it's actually the adjective form of the word in that case. It means roughly the same thing, but to match your title request, you want a verb. Luckily, there is one; the verb foul means "to make foul", as in:

foul₃ (verb): 1. to make or become foul or filthy

(from Merriam-Webster's definition for students).

So you could also say things like "The smell of dead animals fouled the air", or "Ugh, clean up all of those dead animals before they foul the air."

Answer 11

Although the word foul has been suggested (in both adjective and verb form) I think the slight variant I would choose is befoul:

befoul

/bɪˈfaʊl/

Verb: Make dirty; pollute:

‘the dangers of letting industry befoul the environment’

Or to change the example sentence slightly:

The air was still befouled by the smell of dead animals.

Answer 12

If you are looking for an adjective here are some:

stinky adjective: To emit a strong offensive odor.

Stenchful or stenchy adjective: having an unpleasant smell.

Or frowsy or reeky or funky.

The air was still stinky/stenchful/frwsy/reeky with the smell of dead animals.

But judging by the title, I think you are looking for stink something out.

To fill a place with a very unpleasant smell.

Those onions are stinking the whole house out.[(Longman)]

stink somewhere out/up: Fill somewhere with a strong unpleasant smell. (Oxford Living Dictionary)

‘Fourthly, rats are smelly animals that stink the room out.’

‘Besides which, the fish carcases do not stink your dustbin up for days.’

‘You had a fire in your garden that was stinking my house out.’

‘Okay, so you could buy a mackerel for a £1 these days but who wants to stink the entire house out for a week?’

Answer 13

I've used and often read "ripe" or "overripe" in creative writing styles (along with some of the others mentioned, such as "heavy"):

"The air was ripe with the smell of dead animals."

To me, it seems to emphasize maximum offensiveness and putrefaction.

According to Cambridge Dictionary:

ripe adjective (SMELL)

A ripe smell is strong and unpleasant: There was a ripe smell from his socks.

Answer 14

The odor of dead animals permeated the room.

permeate:
intransitive verb

:  to diffuse through or penetrate something
transitive verb

1
:  to spread or diffuse through <a room permeated with tobacco smoke>

2
:  to pass through the pores or interstices of

(MW)

Answer 15

Going by the question title -- "to fill the air with a bad smell" -- how about smell up or stink up?

Dictionary.com:

smell up: Also, stink up. Cause a bad odor, as in These onions smell up the whole house, or Your old sneakers are stinking up the closet; throw them out.

You example, reworded to be consistent with the question title:

Decaying dead animals smelled up (or stunk up) the room.

Answer 16

The word saturate works with the additional benefit of having a neutral connotation (can be used for any type of smell).

The air was still saturated with the smell of dead animals.

ODO:

saturate

VERB

[WITH OBJECT]

1.4 Fill (something or someone) with something until no more can be held or absorbed:

‘the air is saturated with the smells of food’

Answer 17

Since the word you are looking for only has to satisfy 1) contains the meaning filled 2) is of non-positive connotation, I believe all of the following will fit in your sentence.

These three mainly provide a objective description of the physical state of being filled.

• infused: AHD definition 2. To fill or cause to be filled with something.

• permeated: AHD definition 1. To spread or flow throughout; pervade.

• saturated: AHD definition 1. To imbue or impregnate thoroughly. 2. To soak, fill or load to capacity.

  The following two has more connotation of being unclean or affected with filth.

• tainted: AHD definition 2. To affect with decay or putrefaction; spoil.See Synonyms at contaminate. 4. To affect with a tinge of something reprehensible.
• contaminated: AHD definition 1. To make impure or unclean by contact or mixture.

The air was still __ with the smell of dead animals.

Answer 18

Consider "redolent" (though it doesn't indicate that the smell is necessarily bad).

Though the 'to' in the title suggests that the OP is requesting a verb, the OP's example sentence is satisfied nicely with an adjective. And the OP's not being a native English speaker, I think, affords some leeway in interpreting the specific words in the title.

My Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives these meanings:

1. Having or diffusing a strong or pleasant odour; fragrant, odorous. Now rare.
2. Of smell, odour, etc.: pleasant, sweet, fragrant. Now rare.
3. Smelling of or with: full of the scent or smell of. b fig. Strongly suggestive or reminiscent of; impregnated with.

This indicates that the two meanings most associated with pleasant smells are rare. Given the comments below, perhaps these meanings are rare only in some places, and not in others.

In the third entry, including the second half of the fig part, the pervasiveness of the smell is the key idea.

My MacBook’s dictionary gives: 1. Strongly reminiscent or suggestive of (something). literary strongly smelling of something. 2. archaic or literary fragrant or sweet-smelling.

This again indicates that fragrance is a less current meaning.

My Chambers Dictionary app gives:

1. Fragrant
2. Smelling (of, or with)
3. Suggestive (of), imbued (with)

The first meaning suggests pleasant smells. The others do not. The third meaning (second half) highlights the permeating nature of the smell.

The second entry in Mirriam Webster online highlights the strength of the smell, with no indication that the smell is pleasant. The Synonym Discussion gives impregnated as the key idea.

Dictionary.com starts with pleasant as a key idea, but gives odororous or smelling as a meaning. Their example (garlic) may suggest a pleasant smell or unpleasant smell to different people.

Macmillan online gives no hint of pleasantness. Only reminding and pervasiveness.

Though nothing in any of these definitions suggests a bad smell, redolent is almost always followed by a statement whatever odor the air is permeated with. And the OP's example sentence gives the nature of the smell (dead animals), which supplies the unpleasantness.

Answer 19

Consider stifling. From Dictionary.com:

suffocating; oppressively close:

the stifling atmosphere of the cavern.

or Odoriferous (also from Dictionary.com)

yielding or diffusing an odor. or

smell of death billowed into the room

billow :

fill with air and swell outward.

The smell of death billowed through the room

Here's a nice image of billowing smoke that seems to fill the air: