sniff
Americanverb (used without object)
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to draw air through the nose in short, audible inhalations.
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to clear the nose by so doing; sniffle.
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to smell by short inhalations.
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to show disdain, contempt, etc., by or as by sniffing.
verb (used with object)
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to perceive by or as by smelling.
to sniff a scandal.
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to inhale through the nose.
to sniff the air.
noun
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an act of sniffing; a single, short, audible inhalation.
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the sound made by such an act.
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a scent or odor perceived.
a sniff of perfume.
verb
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to inhale through the nose, usually in short rapid audible inspirations, as for the purpose of identifying a scent, for clearing a congested nasal passage, or for taking a drug or intoxicating fumes
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to perceive or attempt to perceive (a smell) by inhaling through the nose
noun
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the act or sound of sniffing
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a smell perceived by sniffing, esp a faint scent
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sniffsimple
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sniffssimple
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have sniffedperfect
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has sniffedperfect
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am sniffingprogressive
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are sniffingprogressive
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is sniffingprogressive
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have been sniffingperfect progressive
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has been sniffingperfect progressive
Past
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sniffedsimple
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had sniffedperfect
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was sniffingprogressive
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were sniffingprogressive
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had been sniffingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sniff
1300–50; Middle English; back formation from snivel
Explanation
Smell that cake baking? No? Take a sniff. A sniff is when you take air in through your nose to smell something. Dogs sniff a lot. It's how they get to know the world. Imagine this when you see the figurative use for sniff meaning to snoop as in, "The detective was sniffing around for clues." Sniff is one of those words that sound like what they mean. Take a big sniff and listen, you'll see. If you have a cold, and you keep sniffing, you have what's known as the sniffles.
Vocabulary lists containing sniff
Smell Words
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"Growing Together" and "When I Grow Up"
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
Lee reaches to sniff some hardy Cleveland sage 4.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
Officials such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the plan was to right-size the staff and introduce more technology to sniff out unpaid tax bills.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026
We put their products—and others—to a sniff test.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
Ultimately the blood the French thought they could sniff as during a second-half comeback turned out to be Anglo-Saxon bloody-mindedness.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
“Get along, you fright!” screamed Polly, and at that rude speech Amy could not restrain a sniff.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
The firm uses computer-driven strategies to trade based on patterns and signals it sniffs out in markets and big data sets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
Before long, Gaga’s version of her wicked queen sniffs out her prey.
From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2025
Somewhere in the mountains of southeastern Spain, a tiny wood mouse sniffs the nutty, alluring aroma of acorns.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 29, 2024
Marie Navarro tells her dad as she sniffs the dish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2023
Of course nothing comes out, but then he sniffs the spout.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
They haven’t sniffed the playoffs since while undergoing seemingly constant leadership changes that have allowed their culture to slowly rot.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
He sniffed out most of the fakes right away.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
Anthropic’s Claude sniffed out a bevy of bugs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
Both batters brought up their half-centuries but their dismissals reopened the door for Bangladesh, who sniffed an upset.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025
“If he can do it,” Alice sniffed, “which he probably can’t.”
From "The Best School Year Ever" by Barbara Robinson
Premier League clubs came sniffing, with Southampton and Crystal Palace - the club that had rejected him six years prior - among those interested.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
As Benchmark analyst Daniel Kurnos wrote, and Barron’s reported, at the time, “no one likes it when an 800-pound gorilla comes sniffing around.”
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
He spent a full minute sniffing my legs and shoes, after coming up to Viana to be petted.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
But at this point, it’s all but impossible to imagine him sniffing the playoffs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026
“Except the part about the armpits. This man’s too delicate a constitution to be sniffing at his armpits. But all the rest I figure is right on the money.”
From "Missing May" by Cynthia Rylant
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.
