How to Use rancid in a Sentence

rancid

adjective
  • Some foods become rancid quickly.
  • The best way to tell if your flaxseed product is rancid is to give it the smell test.
    Katlyn Moncada, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Aug. 2020
  • The air inside the ambulance was a rancid blend of smoke and the smell of blood.
    Seema Jilani, The New York Review of Books, 18 Aug. 2020
  • The clocks stop at the same time every night and the house often smells like rancid meat.
    Lillian Brown, Vulture, 3 June 2021
  • Plus, my mouth tastes like sweat and rancid bourbon and...
    Rachel Epstein, Marie Claire, 28 June 2021
  • This keeps them from going rancid and safe from pantry pests.
    Becky Krystal, Washington Post, 12 Sep. 2022
  • Some homes that were still intact were filled with mud and the rancid stench the water left behind.
    BostonGlobe.com, 23 Aug. 2021
  • Phoenix’s rancid torment jangles the nerves and turns the stomach.
    Kyle Smith, National Review, 3 Oct. 2019
  • Much of the damage was from flooding, which left a thick layer of rancid muck on her floors.
    Stephen Smith and Bobby Caina Calvan, Anchorage Daily News, 7 Oct. 2022
  • If that's grade-A beef, call this one a rancid veggie burger.
    Joshua Rothkopf, EW.com, 19 Feb. 2022
  • This is a place of muscly monsters, rancid odors, and, it must be noted, quite a lot of ooze.
    Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 14 Apr. 2021
  • Here are some specifics to look out for: Give it a sniff — if the eggs smells rancid in the shell or after it's broken in a bowl, don't eat it.
    Katie Bourque, Good Housekeeping, 24 Mar. 2020
  • Our red meat, though, is far different from the rancid version served up by the GOP.
    Dean Obeidallah, The New Republic, 13 Jan. 2022
  • Schaich says oil at this stage tastes a little acrid, grassy and rancid—almost burned.
    Tarah Knaresboro, Popular Mechanics, 2 Feb. 2015
  • The dish, still warm from its sleepover in the incubator, smelled of rancid broth.
    Max G. Levy, Wired, 30 Nov. 2021
  • They were pummeled with rocks, bricks, bottles of urine and bottles of rancid milk.
    Mirna Alsharif and Chris Hippensteel, CNN, 3 Feb. 2022
  • It’s the rancid odor of hydrogen sulfide coming from the lake.
    Los Angeles Times, 19 Nov. 2020
  • But on many days, they were served little more than rancid chicken.
    Gaia Pianigiani, New York Times, 17 July 2017
  • Once its about 40 pounds, the corm has enough energy to bloom and put off its powerful rancid smell.
    Joe Mario Pedersen, Orlando Sentinel, 25 Apr. 2022
  • For years, the little gray donkey had been kept in a cramped and rancid stall by a neglectful owner.
    Christopher McDougall, New York Times, 5 June 2017
  • The poison cherry on top of this rancid sundae, though, is the massive 5-foot-tall, hideously evil-in-a-good-way, clown head that acts as the 18th hole.
    Gunnar Johnson, southflorida.com, 18 Apr. 2018
  • Those memories turned hard and rancid once touched by the reality of the present.
    Bolu Babalola, ELLE, 29 June 2022
  • Usually if something smells funky or rancid, we've been trained to toss it.
    Alyse Whitney, Bon Appetit, 17 May 2017
  • My car is starting to smell like rancid fat dipped in Mrs. Butterworth’s.
    Tim Carman, Washington Post, 17 Aug. 2022
  • But every building's vestibule, hallways, and stairs were filthy and rancid.
    David Brooks, The Atlantic, 1 June 2003
  • There’s a slight rancid element, a bit like butter that’s been burning for too long.
    Felipe Schrieberg, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2021
  • All of these things — saints’ bones, prayer snippets, rancid pig poison, sweet-smelling whale bile — were precious and private.
    Katy Kelleher, Longreads, 10 Aug. 2020
  • Cooking oils such as olive, canola or vegetable oil can go rancid and should not be used on any wooden surfaces.
    Paul Stephen, San Antonio Express-News, 4 Jan. 2022
  • Olive oil is expensive and gets rancid easily, so don't leave your bottle on the stove.
    People Staff, Peoplemag, 24 Oct. 2022
  • In the early days, railroad meals, such as there were, often consisted of rancid meat, cold beans and stale coffee.
    Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson, Star Tribune, 23 Feb. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rancid.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: