smells
noun · verb
Form of smell , plural of smell.
Simple meaning
A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
smehlzIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsmɛlz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
plural of smell
A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
plural of smellphysiology
The sense that detects odours.
plural of smell
A conclusion or intuition that a situation is wrong, more complex than it seems, or otherwise inappropriate.
verb
third-person singular of smell
To detect or perceive; often with out.
third-person singular of smell
To sense a smell or smells.
third-person singular of smellby extensionintransitivecopulative
To smell of; to have a smell of
third-person singular of smell
Smell bad
“He rarely washes, and he smells.”
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
Used this way, smells is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use smells
- “He rarely washes, and he smells.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.