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Glite Dictionary
🤢 To smell bad ⚠️ To suggest something bad 💦 To be soaked 🦨 A bad smell 💨 To give off vapor
to reek

to reek

3 5.6
Give off visible steam or smoke
  • verb
  • /rik/
translation icon : emanar
  • After the chemical spill, the factory reeked of toxic fumes for days.
  • reek of smoke
  • reek of diesel fumes

Examples

  • Reeking exhaust fumes rose from the packed roadways into the warm, hazy air in shimmering waves.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The drawing room reeks of smoke.

    Howards End (1992)

  • There was a dry cleaning plant right next door, and the booth always reeked of dry cleaning fluid.

    Blog text (8)

  • Bearded, stylish man in a business suit, reeking slightly of alcohol.

    Blog text (16)

  • A few feet in front of them, a portable stove sputtered, throwing off a flickering light and reeking of kerosene.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The next morning, as Denson walked over to his exhibition space, he saw a scene of total devastation: sand covering the streets; reeking muck clinging to the walls of the buildings; someone dragging a boat down the boardwalk.

    Blog text (33)

  • The room reeked of smoke after the fire was finally put out.

  • He stepped back, realizing the alley reeked of rotten food and garbage.

Synonyms

to smoke
vsto reek
102 1.5

To send out a cloud of tiny particles and gas from burning

includes vapors or warmth as well as the fine particle clouds
to steam
vsto reek
33 1.0

To give off hot water in the form of gas when heated

also covers cooler emissions like warmth and fine particles not only hot mist
to fume
vsto reek
1 4.6

To give off visible smoke or gas from something

is broader, emitting warmth or mist as well as visible clouds

Phrasal Verbs

to reek of
48 6.3

Have a very strong unpleasant smell or seem full of a bad quality

How Smoky

to reek
3 5.6
to smoke
102 1.5
to steam
33 1.0
to mist
4 2.8

Surface Forms

reek infinitive
reeked past
reeked past participle
reeking present participle
reeks third person singular

Etymology

Reek comes from an old word reyk meaning 'smoke' or 'steam', so it was used for things that give out smoke, mist, or fumes. That's why to reek can mean to send out smoke or vapour.