smell
A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
Noun 3 meanings
A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
“I love the smell of fresh bread.”
The sense that detects odours.
A conclusion or intuition that a situation is wrong, more complex than it seems, or otherwise inappropriate.
Verb 2 meanings
To sense a smell or smells.
“I can smell fresh bread.”
Followed by like or of if descriptive: to have a particular smell, whether good or bad.
“The roses smell lovely.”
Etymology
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”).
Similar and opposite words
SMELL at a glance
SMELL has 5 letters and scores 7 points in Scrabble (S 1 + M 3 + E 1 + L 1 + L 1) and 10 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #3,023 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with smell
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