sniff out

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verb

(tr, adverb) to detect through shrewdness or instinct

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Words nearby sniff out

sniffer, sniffer dog, sniffish, sniffle, sniffles, sniff out, sniffy, snifter, snifting valve, snig, snigger

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use sniff out in a sentence

But even paranoid melodramatic self-aggrandizers sniff out nefarious and tentacular plots from time to time.
Amazon’s Fight With Hachette Strands An Author In The Crossfire|David Shafer|June 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If Letizia did know how to sniff out a media rat in her camp, it was undoubtedly due to her professional training as a journalist.
Meet the New Queen of Spain - 41-Year Old Divorcee And Commoner Letizia Ortiz|Tom Sykes|June 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The most practical gift Real Housewives has given me, however, is the ability to sniff out a lie.
‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Season 2: Taylor and Russell Armstrong’s Riveting Story|Kate Aurthur|January 30, 2012|DAILY BEAST
In fact, he did sniff out the killer in Dexter... and he liked it.
Dexter's Killer Season|Claire Zulkey|September 13, 2009|DAILY BEAST

Those of us devoted to this stuff can sniff out when voters were paying attention and when they were just being lazy.
If I Ran the Oscars|Jessi Klein|January 23, 2009|DAILY BEAST
And yet the scoundrel is around trying to sniff out some shadow of a pretext for misusing her worse than he's already done.
The Damnation of Theron Ware|Harold Frederic
That is to say, he knew how to sniff out the road to almost anything.
The Maid of Sker|Richard Doddridge Blackmore
For what hound, what vulture hovering in the Alexandrian sky, could sniff out anything so far distant as Oea?
The Apologia and Florida of Apuleius of Madaura|Lucius Apuleius

Other Idioms and Phrases with sniff out

sniff out

Uncover, as If there's anything to that rumor, Gladys will sniff it out. This expression alludes to an animal sniffing for prey. [First half of 1900s]

sniff out

Words nearby sniff out

Words related to sniff out

How to use sniff out in a sentence

Other Idioms and Phrases with sniff out