How to Use rancid in a Sentence

rancid

adjective
  • Some foods become rancid quickly.
  • This keeps them from going rancid and safe from pantry pests.
    — Becky Krystal, Washington Post, 12 Sep. 2022
  • That's a recipe for rancid flour (and rancid oil, too).
    — Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 10 Jan. 2026
  • 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
  • Melting suet turns rancid fast and creates a mess of bird plumage.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 4 July 2026
  • But on many days, they were served little more than rancid chicken.
    — Gaia Pianigiani, New York Times, 17 July 2017
  • Storing the grease with bits of bacon can cause the grease to go rancid.
    — Stacey Lastoe, Southern Living, 24 Feb. 2026
  • The clocks stop at the same time every night and the house often smells like rancid meat.
    — Lillian Brown, Vulture, 3 June 2021
  • Schaich says oil at this stage tastes a little acrid, grassy and rancid—almost burned.
    — Tarah Knaresboro, Popular Mechanics, 2 Feb. 2015
  • 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
  • Beans sometimes smelled rancid.
    — Lauren Villagran, USA Today, 19 Oct. 2025
  • These can go rancid when stored for too long at room temperature.
    — Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 27 Apr. 2026
  • If that's grade-A beef, call this one a rancid veggie burger.
    — Joshua Rothkopf, EW.com, 19 Feb. 2022
  • Usually if something smells funky or rancid, we've been trained to toss it.
    — Alyse Whitney, Bon Appetit, 17 May 2017
  • 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
  • They were pummeled with rocks, bricks, bottles of urine and bottles of rancid milk.
    — Mirna Alsharif and Chris Hippensteel, CNN, 3 Feb. 2022
  • Some homes that were still intact were filled with mud and the rancid stench the water left behind.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 23 Aug. 2021
  • Spices lose flavor after a couple of years, and nuts or oils can go rancid in just months.
    — Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Use food-safe mineral oil for this step, not vegetable or olive oil, which can turn rancid.
    — Lizzy Briskin, Bon Appetit Magazine, 23 Jan. 2026
  • 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
  • Phoenix’s rancid torment jangles the nerves and turns the stomach.
    — Kyle Smith, National Review, 3 Oct. 2019
  • But every building's vestibule, hallways, and stairs were filthy and rancid.
    — David Brooks, The Atlantic, 1 June 2003
  • Any longer than a few weeks at room temperature, and their oils can quickly turn rancid.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 28 Dec. 2025
  • Any longer than a few weeks at room temperature, and their oils can quickly turn rancid.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 20 June 2026
  • However, suet molds in the rain and quickly turns rancid in hot weather.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 5 Mar. 2026
  • The dish, still warm from its sleepover in the incubator, smelled of rancid broth.
    — Max G. Levy, Wired, 30 Nov. 2021
  • There’s a slight rancid element, a bit like butter that’s been burning for too long.
    — Felipe Schrieberg, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2021
  • Certain oils can become rancid if exposed to light, heat and oxygen.
    — Valerie Agyeman, Good Housekeeping, 17 Aug. 2022
  • These fats can be affected by heat, light, and moisture, leading nuts to go stale or rancid.
    — Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 5 Oct. 2025
  • 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

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.

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