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

In contrast, distributed "barcode-style" networks were necessary for strong performance on smell recognition and memory.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

Britain's Fran Jones and Harriet Dart, who both qualified on Friday, have also noticed the smell.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

Residents of Savannah, now a tourist mecca known for its moss-draped squares and antebellum architecture, tolerated the river pollution and dismissed the mill’s rotten odor as “the smell of money.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Then came illustrated guides purporting to explain how an anxious shopper might distinguish horse meat from cow meat by color, texture, fat and smell.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026

Both smell of wood, animal and human sweat.

From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

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

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

This new wordmark smells like Le Labo’s Santal 33.

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

The sights and smells have etched themselves on Petra Mertens's mind.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

“If you mean that something smells fishy around here, I quite agree,” Penelope said, climbing out.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

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

From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026

In previous research on dogs, the same brain region has been found to light up when the dogs anticipated a tasty snack, or smelled a familiar person.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

In 2020, the brand introduced a range dubbed Grown-Up Scents—pots of colored Play-Doh that smelled like “overpriced latte” and “mom jeans.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

He was trying to figure out whether to do back, because something about it smelled wrong to him.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

She smelled soap and sweat and the lingering scent of something else that she couldn’t quite name.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

Meanwhile a fire in Blaenavon, Torfaen, could be smelt as far away as Cardiff.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

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

As they probed the earth, they smelt the dirt, looking for the distinctive odour of human remains.

From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026

The new-cut grass on the lawn smelt sweet as hay.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

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

Especially during high-traffic times, after waiting in line, you’d pick up a phone still warm from the grip of the inmate who’d just been using it, the receiver still smelling like his breath.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

The teenager's mum was shocked to find him smelling "terrible" as if he had not washed for days.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

It was the worst smelling place I’ve ever been in my whole life.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

Violet had burned the toast, and their parents, smelling smoke, had run downstairs to see what the matter was.

From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket

Related Words

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