smell

Meaning

Noun

1. A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
2. The sense that detects odours.
3. A conclusion or intuition that a situation is wrong, more complex than it seems, or otherwise inappropriate.

Verb

1. To sense a smell or smells.
2. Followed by like or of if descriptive: to have a particular smell, whether good or bad.
3. To smell bad; to stink.
4. To have a particular tincture or smack of any quality; to savour.
5. To detect or perceive; often with out.
6. (obsolete) To give heed to.
7. To smell of; to have a smell of

Concepts

smell

odor

scent

odour

sniff

stink

aroma

reek

fragrance

stench

perfume

sense of smell

olfaction

taste

feel

sense

nose

inhale

give off an odour

whiff

smell bad

touch

be fragrant

breathe

smelling

flavor

flavour

detect

hear

bad smell

finger

grope

spirit

smell out

smack

olfactory modality

olfactory perception

foul

acrid

kiss

breath

fetidness

fetor

malodorousness

malodour

smelliness

sniffing

snuff

wind

sniff around

smell at

give out a smell

olfactory property

olfactory sensation

feeling

look

tone

nose out

experience

exhalation

fish

milky

Oder

listen

convey

learn

sniff out

stink to high heaven

reek of

beauty

namely

air

disposition

soul

vapour

apprehend

get an inkling

strong odor

strong odour

be bright

glow

miasma

be rank

give off a bad odor

pong

catch the smell

savor

inhalation

have an unpleasant odour

reek to high heaven

spread

aspirate

touch with the mouth

perceive by smell

bouquet

trace

aura

become aware

divine

snuffle

effluvium

acknowledge

admit

be aware

be conscious of

call to mind

comprehend

know

notice

opine

perceive

realize

recognize

remember

see

understand

perceive an odour

smell fetid

smell high

smell putrid

smell strong

smack of

tincture

rankness

olfactory sense

osphresis

snort

good smell

smoke

steam

strong

foul-smelling

rotten

fart

etc.

fresh fish

blood

dairy

fleeting

bad-smelling

stinking

smelly

stinky

have an odor

be off

favour

on account of

on behalf of

revenge

hearing

reach one’s nostrils

salute

smell up

stink out

stink up

suck

act

act upon

affect

appear

cut

give

impact

impinge

impress

influence

kick in

move

prepossess

redound

seem

strike

weigh

work

sniffle

bad

overhear

halitosis

body odor

disagreeable

osmesis

osphreris

get a whiff

fear

funk

shrink

pungent taste

redolence

sweetness

sentience

sentiment

get wind of

arrange

to

hear of

Pronounced as (IPA)

/smɛl/

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld-
Proto-West Germanic *smalljan
Old English *smiellan
Middle English smellen
English smell
From Middle English smellen, smillen, smyllen, smullen, from Old English *smyllan, *smiellan (“to smell, emit fumes”), from Proto-West Germanic *smallijan (“to glow, burn, smoulder”), from Proto-Indo-European *smel- (“to burn, smoke, smoulder; tar, pitch”). The noun is from Middle English smel, smil, smul (“smell, odour”). Related to Saterland Frisian smeele (“to smoulder”), Middle Dutch smōlen (“to burn, smoulder”) (whence Dutch smeulen (“to smoulder”)), Middle Low German smölen (“to be hazy, be dusty”) (whence Low German smölen (“smoulder”)), Low German smullen (“emit smoke”), West Flemish smoel (“stuffy, muggy, hazy”), Danish smul (“dust, powder”), Lithuanian smilkyti (“to incense, fumigate”), Lithuanian smilkti (“to smudge, smolder, fume, reek”), Lithuanian smalkinti (“to fume”), Middle Irish smál, smól, smúal (“fire, gleed, embers, ashes”), Russian смола́ (smolá, “resin, tar”). Compare smoulder, smother.