smell

Pluralsmells

Formssmells, smelling, smelled

1. 1
   odornouncountable or uncountable

   A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by breathing in air that carries tiny particles of a substance.

   The smell of rain on hot pavement is unmistakable.

   Skunks defend themselves with a powerful smell that lingers for days.

   UsageSay the smell of rain or a smell of gas; use smells when telling odors apart, as in the smells of a kitchen.

   Similarodor, scent, aroma, whiff, stench

2. 2
   give off (odor)verbintransitive

   To have a particular smell, whether pleasant or unpleasant, often described with like or of.

   The kitchen smelled of garlic and herbs.

   Wet dogs smell terrible.

   UsageTakes an adjective: smells bad (not incorrect: smells badly), smells lovely. Use of or like before a source: smells of garlic.

   Similarreek, stink

   Note

   The verb usually needs a word after it saying how something smells: roses smell lovely, feet smell of cheese. In Joseph C. Lincoln's Mr. Pratt's Patients (1913), frying salt mackerel makes a shanty smell like a Banks fishing boat back from a voyage.

3. 3
   detect odorverbtransitive

   To perceive an odor through the nose.

   Can you smell the gas leak?

   He smelled the milk to check whether it had spoiled.

   UsagePast tense smelled or smelt. Often with can: Can you smell gas?

   Similarsense, detect

4. 4
   ability (nose)noununcountable

   The bodily sense that detects odors, located in the nose.

   Many smokers find that their sense of smell grows weaker over the years.

   Many nocturnal animals depend on smell to navigate in darkness.

   UsageMost often in sense of smell, which is clearer than the bare word in careful writing.

   Similarscent, nose, olfaction

   Note

   Physiology calls this faculty olfaction: airborne compounds bind to receptor cells high in the nose, and the brain registers them as distinct odors. Everyday English almost always says sense of smell, and much of what people call taste is really smell at work.

5. 5
   stinkverbintransitive

   To give off an unpleasant odor; to stink.

   The locker room smelled after the game.

   Compost can smell if it isn't turned regularly.

   UsageWith nothing after it, the verb is a complaint: it smells means it smells bad. For a pleasant smell, add a word: smells lovely.

   Similarstink, reek, pong, whiff

6. 6
   detect (hidden)verbtransitive

   To detect or perceive something, especially something concealed; often used with out.

   Experienced traders smell a bad deal before signing.

   The dog smelled out the hidden treats in seconds.

   UsageCommon in smell a rat, smell trouble and smell out something hidden.

   Similardetect, sense

   Note

   In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare's "I smell a device" means sensing a trick, not an odor. Its object is typically something someone meant to keep hidden, which is why it suits schemes, lies and bad bargains. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Sir Toby Belch says “I smell a device,” referring to Maria’s proposed trick rather than an odor. folger.edu

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