👃 To detect a scent 👃 Ability to detect scents 🦨 To have an odor 🦨 An odor 🕵️ To sense suspicion 🌫️ A feeling in the air 💻 A software problem

to smell

308 6.8

To seem suspicious or dishonest

verb
/smɛl/

Informal

: oler a

There are things abroad that would smell him out in a moment.
smell a rat
doesn't smell right
looks and smells

And when we can sense, we can smell people's insecurities.

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Examples

And when we can sense, we can smell people's insecurities.

Tom Bilyeu
I smell trouble, and it smells just like Martha Sue Moody, who now calls herself Sunshine Paisley.

Fiction book (1990)
- The sheriff seems to be hanging around and folks are smelling a raid.

Moonshine County Express (1977)
But lawyers and politicians smell issues that look good to juries and voters.

Academic text (2002)
His "no comment" hadn't carried enough conviction, and the White House correspondents smelled blood in the water.

Fiction book (1991)
The proposal already smelled fishy to Lockheed executives, but it could have meant a $25 million sale.

Academic text (2007)
Walking through the office, she started to smell something suspicious about the new project proposal.
I can't help but smell trouble when he begins to make excuses for his late reports.
As soon as they mentioned the budget cuts, I could smell a conflict brewing among the team.

Synonyms

to sense

vsto smell

629 4.2

To notice something by feeling or by using a tool

focuses on a gut feeling of wrongness rather than any detection method

to reek

vsto smell

26 6.7

Strongly suggest that something is dishonest

is more about a vague intuitive feeling of suspicion rather than proof

to smack

vsto smell

26 8.1

To seem to have a strong bad quality such as unfairness

uses intuition about dishonesty, not a literal taste or quality

to sniff out

vsto smell

Informal

15 4.0

Find something by searching, often by smell

relies more on a quick inner feeling than deliberate searching

to smell fishy

vsto smell

Informal

2 6.8

To seem suspicious or dishonest

is a general intuitive sense that something is wrong

to smell out

vsto smell

2 5.1

Find something hidden by noticing small signs

is about sensing a problem rather than actively finding its cause

to stink like a mackerel

vsto smell

Informal

9.9

Have a very strong smell like old fish or seem clearly suspicious

is a subtler intuition about wrongness rather than an obvious sign

to scent out

vsto smell

5.6

To find something by smell or by careful searching

is the simpler inward feeling rather than a careful discovery action

Antonyms

to believe

∞ 1.0

Accept that something is true or trust a person

to trust

∞ 1.0

To believe someone will do what they say

Idioms

to pass the smell test

Informal

3 7.8

Seem honest and believable when people check it

to stop and smell the roses

Informal

3 4.6

To take time to enjoy small pleasant things in life

to wake up and smell the coffee

Informal

3 7.3

Realize an unpleasant truth and stop ignoring it

to smell blood

Informal

2 7.4

To see someone's weakness and act quickly to get an advantage

to smell fishy

Informal

2 6.8

To seem suspicious or dishonest

to smell like a rose

Informal

2 6.1

To appear in a good way after a problem

smell of the lamp

9.9

A sign that someone works late and studies hard, or the smell of an oil lamp

to smell the barn

Informal

9.7

To feel the end of a trip or task is near

to smell like a tart's handbag

NSFW

9.9

To have a strong, unpleasant scent of old heavy perfume and dampness

smell you later

Informal

9.9

To say goodbye in a playful, joking way

Phrasal Verbs

to smell out

2 5.1

Find something hidden by noticing small signs

to smell up

1 7.5

Make a place or thing smell bad

Compounds

sense of smell

27 2.8

The ability to notice and tell scents apart with the nose

smell test

4 3.8

A quick check to see if something seems right, sometimes by its scent

new-car smell

3 3.7

A pleasant smell inside a brand new car

musty smell

2 3.4

A bad, stale smell from damp or old things

fishy smell

2 2.6

A strong unpleasant smell like fish

pungent smell

1 3.3

A strong sharp smell that makes your eyes water

lingering smell

1 3.2

A smell that stays for a long time

smell of success

1 3.9

A feeling that you have done well and feel proud

new-car smell

1 4.1

A feeling that something is fresh and new, not a real smell

dank smell

5.1

An unpleasant damp smell in places like basements or cellars

dank smell

NSFW

9.6

A strong smell of cannabis smoke or buds

pestilential smell

Literature

9.4

A very strong bad air that makes you think of rotting things or disease

smell-o-vision

9.9

A way to make people smell scents while watching films or TV

yucky smell

Informal

5.6

A strong, nasty smell like rotten food that makes you feel sick

How Suspicious

to reek

26 6.7

to smell

Informal

308 6.8

to seem fishy

Informal

1 7.2

Surface Forms

smell infinitive

smelled past

smelled past participle

smelling present participle

smells third person singular

Etymology

Smell (to seem suspicious) is a figurative use of the physical sense: because a bad odor warns you, we say something 'smells' of dishonesty when it gives a strong hint that something is wrong.