scent
a distinctive odor, especially when agreeable: the scent of roses.
an odor left in passing, by means of which an animal or person may be traced.
a track or trail as or as if indicated by such an odor: The dogs lost the scent and the prisoner escaped.
the sense of smell: a remarkably keen scent.
small pieces of paper dropped by the hares in the game of hare and hounds.
to perceive or recognize by or as if by the sense of smell: to scent trouble.
to fill with an odor; perfume.
to hunt by the sense of smell, as a hound.
Origin of scent
1synonym study For scent
Other words for scent
Other words from scent
- scentless, adjective
- scent·less·ness, noun
- non·scent·ed, adjective
- outscent, verb (used with object)
- o·ver·scent·ed, adjective
- un·scent·ed, adjective
- well-scented, adjective
Words that may be confused with scent
Words Nearby scent
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use scent in a sentence
This Portland company offers a variety of scents, but get the vanilla sugar if you want to smell like a super-refreshed cupcake.
The finding, described August 12 in Nature, could inform new ways of controlling or preventing locust swarms, potentially by attracting the insects with their own scents.
A single molecule may entice normally solitary locusts to form massive swarms | Jonathan Lambert | August 12, 2020 | Science NewsIf we can understand how the brain processes individual scents as electrical information, it might be possible to reverse-engineer the smell of bubbling lasagna and deliver it straight to your brain.
A Highway to Smell: How Scientists Used Light to Incept Smell in Mice | Shelly Fan | July 1, 2020 | Singularity HubAfter 10 minutes, the researchers gave each bee the same lemony scent followed by sugar water.
Pesticides can have long-term impact on bumblebee learning | Alison Pearce Stevens | May 18, 2020 | Science News For StudentsThey are snaking back and forth in search of the scent that will get them their ball.
Conservation is going to the dogs | Alison Pearce Stevens | April 2, 2020 | Science News For Students
Selling off the extras, I saw my neighbor marvel at the scent and murmur that he wished he could afford one.
He even claims that hen partridges conceive just by smelling the scent of males.
This is not the boisterous version of Pacino, the one we saw as Tony Montana in Scarface or as Frank Slade in scent of a Woman.
Al Pacino Does What He Wants to Do: 'The Humbling,' Scorsese, and That 'Scarface' Remake | Alex Suskind | September 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTA local perfume maker even produced a special scent for men and women named after the rocket, M75.
Behind the counter is the pit, perfuming the room (and your clothes) with the swirling, come-hither scent of beef and smoke.
But such refuge, he knew, could avail him nothing if the bear should scent him out and search for him.
The Giant of the North | R.M. BallantyneHe did not know what the scent was, but it smelled rich and artificial, and he disliked to associate it with his new friend.
Rosemary in Search of a Father | C. N. WilliamsonHer expression was still petrified, except that she might have had the scent of blood in her slightly dilating nostrils.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonFrom the garden there rose to her nostrils the delicate scent of some hidden flower that gave its best gift to the darkness.
Bella Donna | Robert HichensI might have put him on a false scent, just as cleverly and unsuspiciously as I dare say he could put me; but I've not done it.
Elster's Folly | Mrs. Henry Wood
British Dictionary definitions for scent
/ (sɛnt) /
a distinctive smell, esp a pleasant one
a smell left in passing, by which a person or animal may be traced
a trail, clue, or guide
an instinctive ability for finding out or detecting
another word (esp Brit) for perfume
(tr) to recognize or be aware of by or as if by the smell
(tr) to have a suspicion of; detect: I scent foul play
(tr) to fill with odour or fragrance
(intr) (of hounds, etc) to hunt by the sense of smell
to smell (at): the dog scented the air
Origin of scent
1Derived forms of scent
- scented, adjective
- scentless, adjective
- scentlessness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with scent
see throw off, def. 3.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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