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Glite Dictionary
to smell blood

to smell blood

2 7.4
To see someone's weakness and act quickly to get an advantage
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : oler sangre
  • Once they smell blood, they will band together and circle like a pack of sharks.
  • smell blood in the water

Once people see success, they smell blood, they smell money.

Examples

  • These people smell blood and they come running.

    The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

  • The business rivals can always smell blood when they notice one of us is struggling.

  • Once people see success, they smell blood, they smell money.

    Danny Jones

  • Once they smell blood, they will band together and circle like a pack.

    Blog text (13)

  • The left smelled blood in the water and came in for the kill.

    Blog text (24)

  • Tell me why I think he's making a really smart play right now, which is I think he smells blood in the water with Ben.

  • The crowd, smelling blood, starts really buzzing.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • They smell blood, they'll come swimming.

    The Thinning (2016)

  • They smell blood!

    Dracula: The Impaler (2013)

  • When competitors see a flaw in your plan, they will smell blood and try to take advantage of it.

Antonyms

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

to miss an opportunity
14 2.8

Fail to use a chance to do something you want

How Aggressive

to smell blood
  • Informal
2 7.4
to exploit
95 4.1

Surface Forms

smell blood infinitive
smelled blood past
smelled blood past participle
smelling blood present participle
smells blood third person singular

Morphology

smell + blood

The literal combination 'smell' + 'blood' gives a clear clue about detecting blood or vulnerability, so learners may infer sensing weakness or an advantage. However, the idiomatic extension to opportunistic/aggressive action (i.e., exploiting that weakness) is metaphorical and culturally mediated, so the specific pragmatic sense is not fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Smell blood may come from hunting: when a hunting animal smells blood from a hurt animal, it knows the prey is weak and moves in to attack. So, 'to smell blood' now means to notice a weakness or a chance to win and act quickly.