smelly
Americanadjective
-
smellier,
comparative
-
smelliest
superlative
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of smelly
Explanation
Smelly things give off a bad odor. After her joyful swim in a swampy lake, your dog will probably be smelly. You could call smelly things stinky, putrid, or rank. Your brother's sweaty feet are smelly, and your neighbor's cabbage soup is smelly too. While things like flowers and homemade gingerbread are fragrant or aromatic, smelly things — like your neighborhood on garbage day — are just plain smelly. We know that smelly comes from smell, "odor, aroma, or stench," which followed the verb smell, "emit or perceive an odor," but the word's origin is unknown.
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:
They produce 60 tonnes of the sweet yet smelly fruit, which is driven in frozen containers thousands of kilometres north into China.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
As the day goes on, these smelly specimens will close back up and collapse, losing their infamously rotten odor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
"The world to a lot of us is very loud, very noisy, very crowded, very bright, very smelly, and it's exhausting suppressing your response to all of this and carrying on."
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
Many couples say their marriage hinges on one party coming around to their spouse’s feline friends, which can mean dealing with severe rashes, smelly litter boxes and early wakeups.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
The Boy Finnegan didn’t like the way Danny ate everything on his dinner plate, even the smelly cauliflower, because then Mother Finnegan said, “Why can’t you be more like Danny?”
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
By the way, if you’re wondering why some parts of us are smellier than others, Thomas says you can think of the human body like a bunch of different ecosystems.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 18, 2022
Cities including Atlanta, Nashville and Louisville are so shorthanded they have temporarily stopped collecting things like recyclable bottles, cans, paper and plastic, yard waste or oversized junk to focus on the grosser, smellier stuff.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2022
"Thankfully he didn't seem to find his capture too alarming and hadn't released his spray in defence - otherwise it would have been a much smellier rescue mission."
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2021
Methyl mercaptan, which is even smellier, might only take one reservoir to stink up the globe.
From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2020
The scarier, the smellier, the uglier, the better.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
It’s like saying that the smelliest dog in town got four baths this week.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
Or is it because chopping garlic is one of the most menial, least pleasurable, smelliest of tasks, and a refusal to do so indicates a resistance to work for our food?
From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2022
Some have described it as “barnyardy” or “pungent” or even, rather archly, “the world’s smelliest noodle.”
From Washington Post ● Mar. 8, 2021
Jonny: We made an unbelievable par save on the ninth; it was the smelliest nine-footer down the hill and it kept us going.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2017
That roused her quicker than even the smelliest smelling salts could have, and she chased the twins ’round the room while screaming, “Mama! Mama!”
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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.
