olfaction
Americannoun
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the act of smelling.
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the sense of smell.
noun
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the sense of smell
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the act or function of smelling
Etymology
Origin of olfaction
1840–50; < Latin olfact ( us ) past participle of olfacere to smell ( see olfactory) + -ion
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.
"We know olfaction is powerfully wired into the brain's appetite and emotion networks, but surprisingly, no study has systematically looked at the three-way interaction between smell, appetite, and actual resistance exercise capacity," said Nashrudin Naharudin.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
Bates said many discoveries from fruit fly neuroscience have carried over from invertebrates to mammals, including findings related to navigation, olfaction, and memory.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 10, 2026
Most species, including most mammals, really rely on olfaction to make sense of the world.
From Salon ● Jan. 5, 2025
In olfaction, those under-400 olfactory receptors combine, in ways that have been mysterious to researchers, to produce the staggering variety of odors we can perceive.
From Salon ● Jan. 5, 2025
The theories to explain olfaction are as numerous and complex as those for immunologic sensing.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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