smelled

verb

variants or chiefly British smelt
past tense of smell
1
as in sniffed
to become aware of by means of the sense organs in the nose we smelled the aroma of freshly baked cookies as soon as we walked in the house

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in sensed
to have a vague awareness of I smell something fishy about this situation

Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in sucked
to be objectionable or unsatisfactory that movie smells—I wouldn't waste my money on it if I were you

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of smelled During a recent visit by the Tribune, East 100th Street outside Pullman Innovations smelled somewhere between rotten eggs and manure. — Finnegan Belleau, Chicago Tribune, 19 Aug. 2026 Xcel crews told fire officials that a nearby business had used a cleaning solution that smelled like propane gas. — Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 13 Aug. 2026 The women looked terrible—bruised and sallow—and smelled even worse. — Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2026 Incident reports show there was also a burn barrel which smelled of decomposition. — Nikki Battiste, CBS News, 9 Aug. 2026 According to an incident report by the Gainesville Police Department, Bader smelled of alcohol after that collision. — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 31 July 2026 The air smelled like smoke, even hundreds of miles downwind from the blazes. — Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 20 July 2026 Harvest had finished two weeks ago and the cellar smelled ripely of yeast, like fruit and uncooked dough. — Kyle Lucia Wu, Condé Nast Traveler, 19 July 2026 For spouses Jennifer Kraus and Abigail Cruz, the plants smelled like rotten garbage. — Emily Tarinelli, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smelled
  1. sniffed
  2. sensed
  3. sucked
  4. inhaled
  5. felt
  6. saw
  7. heard
  8. noticed
Verb
  • The final three possessions to determine the winner included a screen pass sniffed out by Lawrence, tipped in the air and intercepted.
    — Paul Dehner Jr, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office They were flagged as suspicious at a UPS facility in Queens after a K9 sniffed out the drugs.
    — Alexa Herrera, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of sniffed
Verb
  • Jacalyn Lee first sensed something was off with her daughter, Isla, just before her first birthday.
    — Brad Quick, CNBC, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Luwi and the other highland boys sometimes attended Gajdusek’s lectures about kuru, and Luwi sensed that their presence gave him more credibility.
    — Rachel Aviv, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of sensed
Verb
  • This debris can get sucked into your ductwork or blown back into the house.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 16 Aug. 2026
  • The passenger sitting in that seat was partially sucked out of the plane, suffering serious injuries, the NTSB said.
    — Kris Van Cleave, CBS News, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of sucked
Verb
  • One of the men inhaled water, and died at the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.
    — Adam Harrington, CBS News, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Rymer, meanwhile, inhaled toxic smoke from the chemical explosion that left him with severe adult-onset asthma.
    — Nicholas Rice, PEOPLE, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of inhaled
Verb
  • Some Black shoppers, who felt alienated after Target’s 2025 DEI rollbacks, expressed fresh disappointment on Monday.
    — Reuters, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Yet the recent swirl of negative discourse around influencer culture has felt different, in part because hating influencers is no longer just a snarky internet pastime.
    — Laura Jung, Vogue, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of felt
Verb
  • In the book, Covey tells the story of a man relentlessly sawing down a tree.
    — Tony Gambill, Forbes.com, 2 June 2026
  • Jordan Walker, sawed off by a 96 mph sinker, lined out softly.
    — Matt Kawahara, Houston Chronicle, 19 Apr. 2026
Definition of saw
Verb
  • Of course, the song won’t be heard exclusively in Orange County CD players for long.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 22 Aug. 2026
  • Responding officers heard screams coming from inside the home and ran into the basement.
    — Rebekah Riess, CNN Money, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of heard
Verb
  • That March, Tahmasbi noticed strangers loitering around his apartment building.
    — Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2026
  • The group also intended to export another 56 servers, but was stopped after Taiwan Customs noticed irregularities in the shipment.
    — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of noticed

Browse Nearby Words

smell
smelled
smelled (of)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Smelled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smelled. Accessed 26 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of devolve

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Why do we say 'break a leg'?

16 Glee-ridden Words from Schitt's Creek
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
alt-684346df967d5
Add A Letter Quiz Pick the letter that goes in the same spot in fou...
See All