odor

American  

[oh-der] / ˈoʊ dər /

especially British, odour

noun

1. the property of a substance that activates the sense of smell.

   to have an unpleasant odor.

2. a sensation perceived by the sense of smell; scent.

3. an agreeable scent; fragrance.

   Synonyms:

   perfume, redolence, aroma

4. a disagreeable smell.

5. a quality or property characteristic or suggestive of something.

   An odor of suspicion surrounded his testimony.

6. repute.

   in bad odor with the whole community.

7. Archaic. something that has a pleasant scent.

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odor British  

/ ˈəʊdə /

noun

1. the US spelling of odour

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Related Words

Odor, smell, scent, stench all refer to sensations perceived through the nose by the olfactory nerves. Odor and smell in literal contexts are often interchangeable. Figuratively, odor also usually occurs in positive contexts: the odor of sanctity. Smell is the most general and neutral of these two terms, deriving connotation generally from the context in which it is used: the tempting smell of fresh-baked bread; the rank smell of rotting vegetation. In figurative contexts smell may be either positive or negative: the sweet smell of success; a strong smell of duplicity pervading the affair. Scent refers either to delicate and pleasing aromas or to faint, barely perceptible smells: the scent of lilacs on the soft spring breeze; deer alarmed by the scent of man. Stench is strongly negative, referring both literally and figuratively to what is foul, sickening, or repulsive: the stench of rotting flesh; steeped in the stench of iniquity and treason.

Other Word Forms

• odorful adjective
• odorless adjective

Etymology

Origin of odor

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin

Explanation

An odor is anything you can smell — like a scent or an aroma. If you sniff a sour odor in your gallon of milk, you should probably pour it down the sink instead of drinking it. Most people are more likely to use the word odor for unpleasant smells, like the odor of your uncle's stinky cigars or the musty odor in your grandmother's attic. You can also use the word odor in a figurative way, to mean a feeling or impression given by something: "The whole bank seemed full of the odor of money and greed." Odor is Latin, meaning "a smell or a scent."

Example Sentences

Around sunset on Sept. 22, six days after Cynthia was last seen, a rural landowner was walking her dog on a private dirt road 40 miles south of Arlington when she noticed a foul odor.

From Slate • Apr. 6, 2026

“Copy, yeah, we prefer to wait on a gate, but I mean, again, we only got so much time here because there's still a bit of an odor in the back of the airplane.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

Media reports said investigators were probing whether airport traffic controllers were distracted by a separate odor issue on a United Airlines flight -- the emergency to which the fire truck was responding.

From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026

This Florida timeshare sounds like out-of-date cheese with a bad odor.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 16, 2026

I sit down on the couch, ready to turn on the television, when I notice a strange odor in the air.

From "A Step from Heaven" by An Na

Related Words

• aroma
• flavor
• perfume
• smell
• stench
• stink
• whiff