perfume
Americannoun
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a substance, extract, or preparation for diffusing or imparting an agreeable or attractive smell, especially a fluid containing fragrant natural oils extracted from flowers, woods, etc., or similar synthetic oils.
-
the scent, odor, or volatile particles emitted by substances that smell agreeable.
- Antonyms:
- stench
verb (used with object)
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(of substances, flowers, etc.) to impart a pleasant fragrance to.
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to impregnate with a sweet odor; scent.
noun
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a mixture of alcohol and fragrant essential oils extracted from flowers, spices, etc, or made synthetically, used esp to impart a pleasant long-lasting scent to the body, stationery, etc See also cologne toilet water
-
a scent or odour, esp a fragrant one
verb
Related Words
Perfume, aroma, fragrance all refer to agreeable odors. Perfume often indicates a strong, rich smell, natural or manufactured: the perfume of flowers. Fragrance is usually applied to fresh, delicate, and delicious odors, especially from growing things: fragrance of new-mown hay. Aroma is restricted to a somewhat spicy smell: the aroma of coffee.
Other Word Forms
- perfumeless adjective
- perfumy adjective
- unperfumed adjective
Etymology
Origin of perfume
First recorded in 1525–35; earlier parfume (noun), from Middle French parfum, noun derivative of parfumer (verb), from obsolete Italian parfumare (modern profumare ). See per-, fume
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.
Two days later, he dropped a collection of Jo Malone perfume at my apartment.
From MarketWatch
Two days later, he dropped a collection of Jo Malone perfume at my apartment.
From MarketWatch
Most of us have received at least one Christms present that missed the mark - a jumper that doesn't fit, a hideous ornament or a perfume you don't like.
From BBC
When she was 13, a group of students organized a giveaway and she received her first gift — a bottle of Avon perfume that smelled like Hawaiian ginger.
From Los Angeles Times
He gifted her and her siblings a cheap "little perfume", wrapped with "so much Sellotape, you couldn't get into it".
From BBC
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.
