smell

American  

[smel] / smɛl /

verb (used with object)

• smells,
  present (3rd person singular)
• smelled,
  past participle,  past
• smelt,
  past participle,  past
• smelling
  present participle

1. to perceive the odor or scent of through the nose by means of the olfactory nerves; inhale the odor of.

   I smell something burning.

2. to test by the sense of smell.

   She smelled the meat to see if it was fresh.

3. to perceive, detect, or discover by shrewdness or sagacity.

   The detective smelled foul play.

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verb (used without object)

• smells,
  present (3rd person singular)
• smelled,
  past participle,  past
• smelt,
  past participle,  past
• smelling
  present participle

1. to perceive something by its odor or scent.

2. to search or investigate (followed by around orabout ).

3. to give off or have an odor or scent.

   Do the yellow roses smell?

4. to give out an offensive odor; stink.

5. to have a particular odor (followed byof ).

   My hands smell of fish.

6. to have a trace or suggestion (followed byof ).

7. Informal. to be of inferior quality; stink.

   The play is good, but the direction smells.

8. Informal. to have the appearance or a suggestion of guilt or corruption.

   They may be honest, but the whole situation smells.

noun

• smells
  plural

1. the sense of smell; faculty of smelling.

2. the quality of a thing that is or may be smelled; odor; scent.

3. a trace or suggestion.

4. an act or instance of smelling.

5. a pervading appearance, character, quality, or influence.

   the smell of money.

verb phrase

1. smell out to look for or detect as if by smelling; search out.

   to smell out enemy spies.

2. smell up to fill with an offensive odor; stink up.

   The garbage smelled up the yard.

idioms

1. smell a rat. rat.

smell British  

/ smɛl /

verb

1. (tr) to perceive the scent or odour of (a substance) by means of the olfactory nerves

2. (copula) to have a specified smell; appear to the sense of smell to be

   the beaches smell of seaweed

   some tobacco smells very sweet

3. to emit an odour (of)

   the park smells of flowers

4. (intr) to emit an unpleasant odour; stink

5. to detect through shrewdness or instinct

6. (intr) to have or use the sense of smell; sniff

7. to give indications (of)

   he smells of money

8. (intr; foll by around, about, etc) to search, investigate, or pry

9. (copula) to be or seem to be untrustworthy or corrupt

10. to detect something suspicious

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noun

1. that sense (olfaction) by which scents or odours are perceived

2. anything detected by the sense of smell; odour; scent

3. a trace or indication

4. the act or an instance of smelling

smell More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing smell

• come up (smelling like) roses
• stink (smell) to high heaven

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Synonym Usage

See odor.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• smeller
  noun
• outsmell
  verb (used with object)
• smell-less
  adjective
• smellable
  adjective
• unsmelled
  adjective
• unsmelling
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• smells
  plural

Participles

• smelling
  present
• smelled
  past
• smelt
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• smell
  simple
• smells
  simple
• have smelled
  perfect
• have smelt
  perfect
• has smelled
  perfect
• has smelt
  perfect
• am smelling
  progressive
• are smelling
  progressive
• is smelling
  progressive
• have been smelling
  perfect progressive
• has been smelling
  perfect progressive

Past

• smelled
  simple
• smelt
  simple
• had smelled
  perfect
• had smelt
  perfect
• was smelling
  progressive
• were smelling
  progressive
• had been smelling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will smell
  simple
• will have smelled
  perfect
• will have smelt
  perfect
• will be smelling
  progressive
• will have been smelling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of smell

First recorded in 1125–75; early Middle English smell, smull (noun), smellen, smullen (verb); origin uncertain.

Explanation

Smell is one of your five senses—the one you use your nose for. Dogs have such a sharp sense of smell that they can sniff out things like explosives and drugs. Your sense of smell gives you important information, like "this milk is sour," or "I need a shower." An individual odor or scent is also a smell, and to perceive it with your nose is to smell it. If someone says, "You smell," it's not a compliment—what they mean is, "You don't smell good." While experts believe that smell has an Old English root, it was never recorded.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

smell smells smelled smelt smelling

I Can Taste It aims to help three to six-year-olds build confidence in trying different foods through sight, smell, touch, sound and taste.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

"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

We’ve all stood under a streetlight; we all know the smell of wine and cheap perfume.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

“You could smell it and, virtually, almost taste it.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

Then I went back for the other candles and tried to space them in a way that wouldn’t result in a confusing smell.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows

“The room is full of talented guys, so everybody always smells blood,” said Johnson, a fourth-year pro.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

Brentford will play on the counter-attack here and Bournemouth will have a go at them, so this smells like a draw to me.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

He pointed to one of his favorite trees, a Japanese katsura, that smells like cotton candy when its leaves begin to fall in autumn.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

Instead of being laid out spatially, its wiring works more like a bar code, with distributed patterns of activity representing particular smells or complex memories.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

“This,” Dr. Ramaswami said, “is an extinct flower. We have an impression of it, and we can’t reconstitute it, but we were able to figure out what it smells like.”

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

The place supposedly smelled of cheddar for weeks afterward.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

The haze can be smelled even indoors in the city of about 700,000 people.

From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026

"The lab smelled like a fish market," she says.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026

At the time, the neighboring Chiquita Canyon landfill had never smelled worse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

His suit was wrinkled, and he smelled sour.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Various types of native fish have suffered declines, including steelhead trout, white sturgeon and longfin smelt.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026

Look no further than GameStop’s $56 billion bid for eBay, which is the equivalent of a smelt swallowing a whale.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026

"The water smelt foul, but we never thought it could kill someone," said Arun Prajapat, who alleges that his mother Seema died after consuming the contaminated water.

From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2026

In my family, everyone new to the table — new partners, neighbors, friends — must try a smelt.

From Salon ● Dec. 14, 2025

There was the saliva that formed in my mouth whenever I smelt clay dust potted with fresh rain.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

Compared with both the water control and milk chocolate conditions, smelling dark chocolate was consistently associated with lower hunger, less desire and intention to eat, and greater feelings of fullness before exercise.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026

Drivers who use air fresheners are just trying to keep their cars smelling good between passengers, says Chris Gerace, who’s been driving for Uber and Lyft for a decade.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

Casting his mind back, Uttam remembered that he decided to go outside, after smelling smoke, to check what was happening.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

This version leans hard into fresh corn, still in its cool green husks and already smelling sweet before you cut it from the cob.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

“I’ve been smelling it for, like, twenty minutes.”

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

Related Words

• aroma
• bouquet
• flavor
• perfume
• scent
• stench
• stink
• trace
• whiff