noun
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a substance applied to the body to suppress or mask the odour of perspiration or other body odours
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( as modifier ) Compare antiperspirant
a deodorant spray
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any substance for destroying or masking odours, such as liquid sprayed into the air
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of deodorant
Explanation
Deodorant is a substance that covers up the smell of sweat. You might use deodorant in the summer, applying it under your arms every morning. Deodorant is used to mask the smell of body odors or perspiration, either by keeping you from sweating or by killing the bacteria that can grow in sweaty areas of the body. Most deodorants also have a flowery or musky smell that's meant to overwhelm less pleasant smells. In the mid-1800s, a deodorant was "a substance meant to quell the odor of manure" on a farm or in a garden.
Vocabulary lists containing deodorant
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Parada Calderon said his family sends him about $100 per month to spend on commissary items, which he spends on packets of crackers, coffee, soups, soap, shampoo, deodorant and chips.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 1, 2026
Why lock up deodorant when a company could use that cash to pay their employees enough to stop living paycheck-to-paycheck?
From Salon • May 22, 2026
At 7:00 am, relatives brought packages: deodorant, toothpaste, soap and shampoo in labeled plastic bags, plus disinfectant and bleach -- provisions essential for maintaining hygiene in the latrines of tiny cells.
From Barron's • Jan. 10, 2026
Church, who recently appeared on Celebrity Traitors, said she was surprised by the comment and explained she stopped using deodorant because she was concerned about chemicals.
From BBC • Dec. 12, 2025
And there is another smell in the Packard now, above leather and whiskey, a stringent, metallic smell overpowering my grandfather’s deodorant: fear.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
