whiff
1 Americannoun
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a trace or hint.
a whiff of scandal.
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a slight trace of odor or smell.
a whiff of onions.
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a slight gust or puff of wind, air, vapor, smoke, or the like.
a whiff of fresh air.
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a single inhalation or exhalation of air, tobacco smoke, or the like.
I tried smoking once, but had a coughing fit after the first whiff and gave up.
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a slight outburst.
a little whiff of temper.
verb (used without object)
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whiffs,
present (3rd person singular)
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whiffed,
past participle, past
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whiffing
present participle
-
to blow or come in light puffs, such as of wind or smoke.
A breeze whiffed through the clearing, cooling our faces.
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to inhale or exhale in light puffs, such as when smoking tobacco.
She was sitting on the porch, whiffing on a cigarette.
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to move swiftly through the air, creating a slight breeze or swishing sound.
The ball whiffed past my head and into the net.
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Baseball.
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to swing without hitting the ball.
He’s whiffed at 30 percent of pitches this season.
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(of a batter) to strike out by swinging at and missing the pitch charged as the third strike.
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Informal. to fail in an effort or get something wrong.
This economic think tank has whiffed on every prediction for the last decade.
verb (used with object)
-
whiffs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
whiffed,
past participle, past
-
whiffing
present participle
-
to blow or drive with light puffs, as the wind does.
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to inhale or exhale (air, tobacco smoke, etc.) in light puffs.
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to smoke (a pipe, cigar, etc.).
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Baseball. (of a pitcher) to cause (a batter) to swing at a pitch and miss or to strike out.
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Informal. to fail at or in; get wrong.
The book had a great beginning, but lost steam as it progressed, and totally whiffed the ending.
He’s whiffed every opportunity we gave him.
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to catch a slight scent or hint of; sniff; smell.
I broke a small branch off the lilac bush and whiffed the blooms as I walked.
noun
noun
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a passing odour
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a brief gentle gust of air
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a single inhalation or exhalation from the mouth or nose
verb
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to come, convey, or go in whiffs; puff or waft
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to take in or breathe out (tobacco smoke, air, etc)
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(tr) to sniff or smell
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slang (intr) to have an unpleasant smell; stink
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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whiffsimple
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whiffssimple
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have whiffedperfect
-
has whiffedperfect
-
am whiffingprogressive
-
are whiffingprogressive
-
is whiffingprogressive
-
have been whiffingperfect progressive
-
has been whiffingperfect progressive
Past
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whiffedsimple
-
had whiffedperfect
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was whiffingprogressive
-
were whiffingprogressive
-
had been whiffingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of whiff1
First recorded in 1600–10; origin uncertain; perhaps a variant of Middle English wef, wef(f)e “bad smell, stench”
Origin of whiff2
First recorded in 1705–15; origin uncertain
Explanation
A whiff can mean the hint of something you smell. When you drive past the sewage treatment plant and suddenly roll up your car windows, it's usually because you've gotten a whiff of the plant's special odor. Whiff can be used as either a noun or verb, and it implies a brief or small puff or sniff. A person can have "a whiff of the exotic," which means they are living like the rest of us, but there is a little something about them that seems foreign or different. Sometimes, of course, odors are so overpowering that a small sniff is all you need: "Take a whiff of this," your friend might say to you, holding out a carton of sour milk. In that case, one whiff will be more than enough.
Vocabulary lists containing whiff
The Nose Knows: Olfactory Vocabulary
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100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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Smell Words
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
There is much work to do in defence, for sure, but they can do that work from a position of strength - with the whiff of an extra £40m in their nostrils.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
If every Miyazaki movie has a whiff of biographical relevance, one might see “Kiki’s Delivery Service” as his statement of creative purpose and motivation.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
Get ready to catch a whiff of stink.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
A big whiff of inflation also permeated the S&P report.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
He’s holding a takeout bag, and I get a whiff of Mexican food.
From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks
For now, he keeps squandering his Marvel breaks on whiffs like “Cherry” and “Uncharted.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
In referencing punk culture, Gyllenhaal whiffs her mark, which is somehow even more punk.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
He has quickly rediscovered the feel for his breaking stuff, generating whiffs with his sweeper and traditional slider.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2025
But aesthetically and tonally, whiffs of affluence are in reach for those who want a taste.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2025
I get whiffs of it whenever we stumble into each other on the way to school.
From "Lucky Broken Girl" by Ruth Behar
In their mutual aim for a modern twist on a timeless classic, both the star-studded, multi-million dollar Apple TV+ movie and the low-budget indie comedy whiffed it entirely.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2025
The Dodgers offered at 10 of them—and whiffed on seven.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
Freddie Freeman whiffed on a curveball after him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2025
Thairo Estrada whiffed on a curveball in the first inning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2025
Anyway, he hadn’t sniffed it, he had only whiffed it.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
And Jude isn’t above including a mocking slow-motion shot of a spoiled French boy totally whiffing a soccer kick.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
But when they did try to attack it, they could do nothing with it, whiffing on the pitch five times and recording outs on the only two that were put in play.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2025
Few things get GMs fired faster than whiffing on quarterbacks, which means six of them are on the clock.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
After whiffing on a check attempt on Sprong on Detroit’s goal, Entwistle tied it at 1 when he converted a nice setup by Reese Johnson at 3:29.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 25, 2024
By day nineteen after the whiffing incident, when they hadn’t had any bloody noses, Peter Jahrling and Tom Geisbert began to regard themselves as definite survivors.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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.
