Synonyms
3. aroma, redolence, perfume. Odor, smell, scent, stench all refer to sensations perceived through the nose by the olfactory nerves. Odor and smell in literal contexts are often interchangeable. Figuratively, odor also usually occurs in positive contexts: the odor of sanctity. Smell is the most general and neutral of these two terms, deriving connotation generally from the context in which it is used: the tempting smell of fresh-baked bread; the rank smell of rotting vegetation. In figurative contexts smell may be either positive or negative: the sweet smell of success; a strong smell of duplicity pervading the affair. Scent refers either to delicate and pleasing aromas or to faint, barely perceptible smells: the scent of lilacs on the soft spring breeze; deer alarmed by the scent of man. Stench is strongly negative, referring both literally and figuratively to what is foul, sickening, or repulsive: the stench of rotting flesh; steeped in the stench of iniquity and treason.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To odor

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Odor is always a great word to know.

So is bezoar. Does it mean:

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Example Sentences

Breath odor is the scent of the air you breathe out of your mouth.

We also stick the litter in a closet with those odor eating sheets around the litter.

The devices pumped constant streams of air into their noses so a gust of odor would not wake them.

EXPAND

Breath odor is the scent of the air you breathe out of your mouth.

We also stick the litter in a closet with those odor eating sheets around the litter.

The devices pumped constant streams of air into their noses so a gust of odor would not wake them.

The company suggests that drinkers add a slice of lime to enhance the taste of the beer, not to mention its odor.

Above all there is the musty odor of decaying paper.

Foliage emits a strong wintergreen odor when bruised, turns reddish with winter cold.

Odor would be a natural extension of this experience.

Unpleasant, distinctive, or offensive breath odor is commonly called bad breath.

I've also gotten food that had unmistakable meat odor and decided not to take the chance to bite into it.

Avoid compost bin odor by adding enough brown composting material to balance wet fruit and vegetable waste.

The researchers also concluded that men's odor is harder to mask than women's, regardless of who sniffs.

Wash foods in it, then rinse them with plain water to get rid of any chlorine odor.

Good thing, too, as it's one of the compounds that gives human feces its odor.

Many residents first thought the odor was from a broken septic system.

My dogs are specially bred for incontinence, copious shedding, and body odor.

The tallest native cottonwood, with open crown of erect branches and sticky, resinous buds with balsam odor.

They knew that diabetes could make a patient's breath smell sweet and that a wound emitting a foul odor was infected.

In late summer or early fall, bears tight clusters of dark purple-red flowers with odor of cedar and camphor.

Charcoal was actually one of the more popular choices for odor eradication before baking soda took the driver's seat.

But eliminate the pungent odor from the world's smelliest.

The solitary, nodding flower with an unpleasant odor rises on a stalk above a whorl of three broadly ovate, diamond-shaped leaves.

Carlson's team then presented one kind of odor molecule at a time to the flies.

Instead, he said bees are guided to the food source by odor conveyed by the scout bee.

He added that the odor made prospective renters start questioning if the building was well-run.

Ozone is a form of oxygen: a highly poisonous, pale blue gas with a strong odor.

Rancid means unpleasant odor due to spoilage of fatty foods.

The odor from the fluid in the jar will be enough to clear a room and mobilize a hazmat team.

The scientists then changed the shock to be tied with the first odor instead of the second.

It was the musky odor of all the decaying and dead things that the water.

Some residents have complained about its odor and yellow color, while rumors have swirled there could be a shortage.

Our sense of taste is heavily influenced by our sense of smell, and no two people smell an odor the same way.

But now, a different odor is wafting about, the scent of trouble.

The city has a miasmic, sweetly offensive odor impregnable to the monsoon or to the daily industrial pollution.

Earlier this week, the station crew reported a foul odor coming from one of the orbiting lab's toilets.

Bartolotta checks the fish for odor and appearance.

The body lay undiscovered for two days, until two tourists who rented the room complained about an odor.

The rafflesia's five fleshy petals begin to rot soon after they blossom, giving off an odor of decay.

The researchers hope that the findings will provide insight into how our response to odor is influenced by culture and gender.

But the overwhelming odor of propane fumes made police reluctant to send humans in.

Rains required the wasps to head toward the odor source by crawling through an opening equipped with an infrared signal.

They gobble up road kill and can hurl the ingested remains at a potential attacker, leaving a horrible odor.

Our world is awash in smells-everything has an odor.

The city quickly determined that the odor was harmless, but the mystery of its origin persisted for four years.

IT sounds smart to control the odor in cars by minimizing the smell of what goes into them.

Deodorant made with organic ingredients is a safe and effective way to control perspiration and eliminate body odor.

Foot odor due to microbial metabolism and its control.

The odor threshold for chlorine is about3 parts per million.

Most painters prefer it as a paint thinner because it costs less, is not so sticky and has a less offensive odor than turpentine.

When females are ready to mate, their bodies give off an odor that attracts males.

Since those trying days, body odor has lost its evolutionary edge but gained in commercial advantage.

Ring-tailed lemurs have powerful scent glands and use their unique odor as a communication tool and even as a kind of weapon.

Still mineral spirits do have an odor that some people may find unpleasant.

Koalas eat so many of these leaves that they take on a distinctive odor from their oil, reminiscent of cough drops.

On the go, underarm odor is wiped away with a sliced lemon.

Alternatively, spray cutting boards and surfaces with vinegar at night, and the odor will dissipate by morning.

He said, however, that there was no danger to health as a result of the odor and that the process had been corrected.

The scientists first determined that neither liquid has a discernible odor to men.

There were also fears that the odor was linked to an act of terrorism.

The sweet smell of blood mingles with the smoky odor of wet feathers.

Officials ruled the odor harmless but never solved the mystery of its origin.

Also known as a toad or starfish plant, it ranges in color and emits an unpleasant odor.

But the carpet's musty odor is bothering city workers, he said.

They sniff the ground there because the odor makes them go potty.

It has a musty odor and forms a powdery white film or black spots resembling soot.

Several sofas and chairs have come and gone due to odor and tears.

The ulcers develop a foul-smelling drainage, causing breath odor and an odor to the skin.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

odor (ˈəʊdə)

—n
	the US spelling of odour

'odorless

—*adj*

odour or odor (ˈəʊdə)

—n
1.	the property of a substance that gives it a characteristic scent or smell
2.	a pervasive quality about something: an odour of dishonesty
3.	repute or regard (in the phrases in good odour, in bad odour)

[C13: from Old French odur, from Latin odor; related to Latin olēre to smell, Greek ōzein]

odor or odor

—n

[C13: from Old French odur, from Latin odor; related to Latin olēre to smell, Greek ōzein]

'odourless or odor

—*adj*

'odorless or odor

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

odor

c.1300, from Anglo-Fr. odour, from O.Fr. odor (Fr. odeur), from L. odorem (nom. odor) "smell, scent," from PIE *od- (cf. L. olere "emit a smell, to smell of," with Sabine -l- for -d-; Gk. ozein "to smell;" Armenian hotim "I smell;" Lith. uodziu "to smell"). Odorous "fragrant" (1550) is from M.L. odorosus,

EXPAND

from L. odorus "having a smell," from odor. Good or bad odor, in ref. to repute, estimation, is from 1835. Odor of sanctity (1756) is from Fr. odeur de sainteté (17c.) "sweet or balsamic scent said to be exhaled by the bodies of eminent saints at death or upon disinterment."

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

odor o·dor (ō'dər)
n.

The property or quality of a thing that affects, stimulates, or is perceived by the sense of smell.
A sensation, stimulation, or perception of the sense of smell.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

odor

the property of certain substances, in very small concentrations, to stimulate chemical sense receptors that sample the air or water surrounding an animal. In insects and other invertebrates and in aquatic animals, the perception of small chemical concentrations often merges with perception via contact of heavy concentrations (taste), and with other chemoreceptive specializations. See also smell.

Learn more about odor with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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"Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a foul odor; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor."

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