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• cologne
  cologne

  noun

  a mildly perfumed toilet water; eau de Cologne.
• Cologne
  Cologne

  noun

  a city in W Germany.

cologne

¹ American  

[kuh-lohn] / kəˈloʊn /

noun

• colognes
  plural

1. a mildly perfumed toilet water; eau de Cologne.

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Cologne ² American  

[kuh-lohn] / kəˈloʊn /

noun

1. a city in W Germany.

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Cologne ¹ British  

/ kəˈləʊn /

noun

1. German name: Köln. an industrial city and river port in W Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia on the Rhine: important commercially since ancient times; university (1388). Pop: 965 954 (2003 est)

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cologne ² British  

/ kəˈləʊn /

noun

1. Also called: Cologne water, eau de Cologne. a perfumed liquid or solid made of fragrant essential oils and alcohol

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Cologne Cultural  

1. City in western Germany on the Rhine River; a commercial center.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cologned
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• colognes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cologne

Short for Cologne water, made in Cologne since 1709

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Explanation

Cologne is a type of perfume, a liquid that smells good and is meant to be dabbed behind your ears. When you get dressed up for a night on the town, you might be sure to put some cologne on your neck. Both men and women wear cologne, which is scented with extracts or oils in a base of alcohol and water. Cologne is considered a kind of toilet water, which is less concentrated than perfume — and can be applied more liberally. If you've ever stood in an elevator with a man wearing an excessive amount of cologne, you know there can be too much of a good thing. The word is from the French eau de Cologne, "water from Cologne (Germany)."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cologne Cologne colognes

A wispy sagebrush offered up its scent as a natural cologne.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

Two scents set her off the most: “Black Ice” from Little Trees—described by the company as a “mysteriously enticing cologne with notes of citrus and cedarwood,” but which she finds indescribable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

She recalls their brief exchange at the rededication of Notre-Dame Cathedral in December 2024, a photograph of which Trump later used to advertise a Trump-branded cologne.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026

“When you put this cologne on, you don’t even know you’ve already lost.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026

And now Mustafa practically lives in the bathroom, shaves, gels his hair, and drowns in cologne.

From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan

Baumbick, who spends much of his time in London and at Ford’s European headquarters in Cologne, Germany, said he has kept the dealer’s Post-it on his iPad as a reminder of the work ahead.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

A global shift toward nonalcoholic drinks — driven by greater health consciousness from California to Cologne and beyond — has reached even the world’s biggest celebration of beer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

Last year over 350,000 people flocked to the halls of the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany to get a chance to see and play the most hotly anticipated games.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

The findings come from an interdisciplinary group of neuroscientists and clinicians at the University Hospitals of Cologne and Düsseldorf, Harvard Medical School and Charité Berlin.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026

As you looked out across the flattened, battered city, you could see the spire of Cologne Cathedral.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall

The perfumes and colognes are selling for nearly $200.

From Salon ● Dec. 10, 2024

Mr. Rabanne became known in the 1970s for colognes, handbags and ready-to-wear fashion that made him familiar to department-store consumers around the world.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 3, 2023

That’s probably because Calone is employed as an ingredient in a vast array of colognes and perfumes, including scents by Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Christian Dior.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 2021

"When I started advertising, all of a sudden it became one of the best colognes out there. I was doing appearances; 15,000, 18,000, 20,000 people were showing up outside of Saks Fifth Avenue."

From Fox News ● Aug. 20, 2021

He goes shopping with her on Madison Avenue at stores they must be buzzed into, for cashmere cardigans and outrageously expensive English colognes that Maxine buys without deliberation or guilt.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

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