smell
Americanverb (used with object)
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smells,
present (3rd person singular)
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smelled,
past participle, past
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smelt,
past participle, past
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smelling
present participle
-
to perceive the odor or scent of through the nose by means of the olfactory nerves; inhale the odor of.
I smell something burning.
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to test by the sense of smell.
She smelled the meat to see if it was fresh.
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to perceive, detect, or discover by shrewdness or sagacity.
The detective smelled foul play.
verb (used without object)
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smells,
present (3rd person singular)
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smelled,
past participle, past
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smelt,
past participle, past
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smelling
present participle
-
to perceive something by its odor or scent.
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to search or investigate (followed by around orabout ).
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to give off or have an odor or scent.
Do the yellow roses smell?
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to give out an offensive odor; stink.
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to have a particular odor (followed byof ).
My hands smell of fish.
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to have a trace or suggestion (followed byof ).
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Informal. to be of inferior quality; stink.
The play is good, but the direction smells.
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Informal. to have the appearance or a suggestion of guilt or corruption.
They may be honest, but the whole situation smells.
noun
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smells
plural
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the sense of smell; faculty of smelling.
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the quality of a thing that is or may be smelled; odor; scent.
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a trace or suggestion.
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an act or instance of smelling.
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a pervading appearance, character, quality, or influence.
the smell of money.
verb phrase
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smell out to look for or detect as if by smelling; search out.
to smell out enemy spies.
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smell up to fill with an offensive odor; stink up.
The garbage smelled up the yard.
idioms
verb
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(tr) to perceive the scent or odour of (a substance) by means of the olfactory nerves
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(copula) to have a specified smell; appear to the sense of smell to be
the beaches smell of seaweed
some tobacco smells very sweet
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to emit an odour (of)
the park smells of flowers
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(intr) to emit an unpleasant odour; stink
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to detect through shrewdness or instinct
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(intr) to have or use the sense of smell; sniff
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to give indications (of)
he smells of money
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(intr; foll by around, about, etc) to search, investigate, or pry
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(copula) to be or seem to be untrustworthy or corrupt
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to detect something suspicious
noun
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that sense (olfaction) by which scents or odours are perceived
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anything detected by the sense of smell; odour; scent
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a trace or indication
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the act or an instance of smelling
Synonym Usage
See odor.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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smellernoun
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outsmellverb (used with object)
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smell-lessadjective
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smellableadjective
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unsmelledadjective
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unsmellingadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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smellsimple
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smellssimple
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have smelledperfect
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have smeltperfect
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has smelledperfect
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has smeltperfect
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am smellingprogressive
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are smellingprogressive
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is smellingprogressive
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have been smellingperfect progressive
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has been smellingperfect progressive
Past
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smelledsimple
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smeltsimple
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had smelledperfect
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had smeltperfect
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was smellingprogressive
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were smellingprogressive
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had been smellingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing smell
Smell Words
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Vocabulary from Readings 1, Unit 4
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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.
See Examples For:
Ian Putland said even with the windows closed he could smell the fire.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Condensation had gathered beneath the lid, suggesting freshness, or at least recent contact with the natural world, but when I peeled it back there was a suspicious lack of smell.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
The maturity of the crowd permeates everything onboard, down to the smell, said another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
"There were some 48 homes here, they burned," he said, surrounded by charred earth and trees blanketed with a persistent smell of smoke.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
And we could still smell the smoke—it seemed to be clinging to the trees all around us, drifting about us like a yellow mist.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
"There is a catastrophic lack of hygiene -- smells, rubbish," she told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
Beyond the smells, residents have dealt with an increasing number of pests, including rodents and large swarms of flies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Air regulators say they have received nearly 1,000 complaints about smells from the facility.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
“There’s something out there that thinks a corpse flower smells like heaven,” said Marc Hachadourian, director of glasshouse horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden, which hosted a corpse flower bloom last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Inside, it’s softly lit and smells like a combination of the lavender essential oil mixture we use on the bedding and something pungent and medicinal.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
"It smelled like plastic burning. It stung my nose," Chanate recounts.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
It smelled like “a hint of dumpster at a seafood restaurant,” said Parrett, 46, who visited with her husband and two teenage kids.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
She said it was as tall as a 14-year-old kid and smelled like rotten meat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
He was trying to figure out whether to do back, because something about it smelled wrong to him.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
The jerricans smelled of petrol, and I saw packs of batteries, bottles of oil, and cans of tomato purée in one box.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
Meanwhile a fire in Blaenavon, Torfaen, could be smelt as far away as Cardiff.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 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
"We spent around an hour getting all the glass out and the porch smelt a bit, but you can imagine."
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2025
In my family, everyone new to the table — new partners, neighbors, friends — must try a smelt.
From Salon ● Dec. 14, 2025
The moss smelt rich and deep, and the bluebells were earthy, bitter.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
Kyle Shanahan must believe the olfactory exhilaration of smelling salts enhances his coaching ability.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
“People are seeing with their own eyes, and I think frankly smelling with their own nose,” Mr. Sabet, 47, says in a phone interview.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Emergency workers stood on the charred roof, still smelling of burning, sawing off damaged sections and tossing the debris into a pile.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
It's the stuff of smelling salts and stretchers.
From BBC ● May 9, 2026
Indifferent to our worries, MacDuff followed his nose into the weeds, roaming in circles around us, happy to be outside smelling wonderful smells.
From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn
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.
