How to Use pungent in a Sentence

pungent

adjective
  • There was a pungent odor in the car.
    — David Lyons, Sun Sentinel, 16 Feb. 2026
  • Each slice of her pound cake is full of the pungent green herb.
    — Jenn Harriscolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2022
  • The sharp, pungent scent of chile peppers clings to the air.
    — Kamala Thiagarajan, NPR, 19 Apr. 2026
  • The pungent black smoke from his exhaust pipe gave him headaches.
    — Lenny Rashid Ruvaga, The Christian Science Monitor, 11 Mar. 2024
  • Acetic acid is what gives vinegar its pungent taste and strong smell.
    — Beth Segal, cleveland, 23 Dec. 2021
  • If the aroma isn't bold and pungent, the spice is past its prime.
    — Sheri Castle, Southern Living, 16 Oct. 2023
  • The wood gave off a pungent, earthy smell and the wind moaned through the tall oaks and pines.
    — Roy Berendson, Popular Mechanics, 28 Sep. 2018
  • The drywall has peeled away over the years and there’s a pungent mildew smell.
    — Zahria Rogers, The Courier-Journal, 15 June 2018
  • The more the soil dries out, the more pungent flavor the turnips will take on.
    — Sheryl Geerts, Better Homes & Gardens, 15 Oct. 2024
  • Their bright petals and pungent aroma are meant to guide the souls of the dead back home.
    — Emily Vanschmus, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 Nov. 2022
  • That ensures the meat is tender and has a less pungent taste.
    — Silvia Marchetti, CNN, 26 Apr. 2022
  • The last is a raicilla with a pungent nose and a fruity, funky flavor.
    — M. Carrie Allan, Washington Post, 28 Apr. 2026
  • The next is the pungent aroma of fig leaves, boxwood, and basil.
    — Emily Mullin, WIRED, 24 Jan. 2023
  • Nymph is soft and sweet and hot and pungent and textured and strange and lovely.
    — Emily Temple, Literary Hub, 26 May 2026
  • When fresh, habaneros have a crisp and pungent taste as well as a watery crunch.
    — Pati Jinich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Jan. 2024
  • Then along came more of the funky odors with people having a pungent smell about them.
    — Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, 25 Mar. 2021
  • Best said that raw purees of garlic, onion, and ginger are spicy and pungent.
    — Kathleen Ferraro, Verywell Health, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Mamlets are cooked in pungent mustard oil and amped up with onions and chiles.
    — Madhushree Basu Roy, Saveur, 30 Apr. 2026
  • On East, a molting monk seal smelled worse than sweaty, pungent gym socks.
    — Smithsonian Magazine, 10 July 2023
  • Some of the jars contained garum, a pungent fish sauce that was common at the time.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 17 May 2025
  • The first thing that greeted me was not the sight of pigs or the pungent smell of manure.
    — Melinda Wenner Moyer, Scientific American, 1 Dec. 2016
  • And everybody will catch the pungent scent of a sequel in the wind.
    — Ron Charles, chicagotribune.com, 24 Apr. 2018
  • Has all the pungent markers of the variety, with a bit of green stem in the mix.
    — Lana Bortolot, Forbes, 30 Apr. 2022
  • No suspicious whine in the air, no burning of pungent oils to put off biters.
    — Antonia Quirke, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Jan. 2026
  • There’s a unique range of pungent sweetness to be had in the onion family.
    — Hugh Garvey, Sunset Magazine, 11 Aug. 2020
  • Inside the package were six black and brown gummy bears with the pungent odor.
    — Benjamin Adams, Forbes, 15 Feb. 2024
  • This gave us the first clue that this is a key gene that results in the strong, pungent smell of durian.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 11 Oct. 2017
  • As the fishing gets underway, the pungent smell of the gas lingers in the air.
    — CNN, 20 Sep. 2021
  • Its leaves are considered to have the most pungent lemon flavor among all herbs.
    — Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 10 Apr. 2026
  • The leaves smelled dead in that very pungent way that is almost the opposite of death.
    — Lisa Taddeo, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2020

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

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