odor

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Related to odor: body odor

o·dor

(ō′dər)

1. A quality of something that is perceived by the sense of smell: kitchen odors. See Synonyms at smell.

2. A strong, pervasive quality: An odor of sadness permeated the gathering.

3. Esteem; repute: a doctrine that is not currently in good odor.

[Middle English odour, from Old French, from Latin odor.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

odor

(ˈəʊdə)

the US spelling of odour

ˈodorless adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

o•dor

(ˈoʊ dər)

n.

1. the property of a substance that activates the sense of smell: a beautiful flower with an unpleasant odor.

2. a sensation perceived by the sense of smell; scent.

3. a quality or property characteristic or suggestive of something: an odor of suspicion.

4. repute: in bad odor with one's creditors.

5. Archaic. something that has a pleasant scent.

Also, esp. Brit.,odour.

[1250–1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin]

o′dor•ful, adj.

o′dor•less, adj.

syn: odor, smell, scent, stench all refer to a sensation perceived by means of the olfactory nerves. odor refers to a relatively strong sensation that may be agreeable or disagreeable, actually or figuratively: the odor of freshly roasted coffee; the odor of duplicity. smell is used in similar contexts, although it is a more general word: cooking smells; the sweet smell of success. scent may refer to a distinctive smell, usu. delicate and pleasing, or to a smell left in passing: the scent of lilacs; the scent of an antelope. stench refers to a foul, sickening, or repulsive smell: the stench of rotting flesh.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	odor - any property detected by the olfactory system aroma, olfactory property, odour, smell, scent property - a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class; "a study of the physical properties of atomic particles" fragrancy, redolence, bouquet, fragrance, sweetness - a pleasingly sweet olfactory property fetidness, malodorousness, stinkiness, rankness, foulness - the attribute of having a strong offensive smell muskiness - having the olfactory properties of musk rancidness - the property of being rancid
	2.	odor - the sensation that results when olfactory receptors in the nose are stimulated by particular chemicals in gaseous form; "she loved the smell of roses" odour, olfactory perception, olfactory sensation, smell aesthesis, esthesis, sensation, sense datum, sense experience, sense impression - an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation; "a sensation of touch" scent - an odor left in passing by which a person or animal can be traced fragrance, perfume, scent, aroma - a distinctive odor that is pleasant fetor, foetor, malodor, malodour, reek, stench, stink, mephitis - a distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant acridity - having an acrid smell

odor

noun

The quality of something that may be perceived by the olfactory sense:

aroma, scent, smell.

Translations

رَائِحَةٌ

pach

duft

haju

miris

におい

악취

vonj

lukt

กลิ่น

koku

mùi

气味

odour

(American) odor (ˈəudə) noun

a smell (usually particularly good or bad). the sweet odour of roses.

ˈodourless adjective

odor

→ رَائِحَةٌ pach duft Geruch οσμή olor haju odeur miris odore におい 악취 geur lukt zapach odor запах lukt กลิ่น koku mùi 气味

o·dor

n. olor.

odor

n olor m; body — olor corporal; foot — olor de pies

References in classic literature ?

For now, while so quietly Lying, it fancies A holier odor About it, of pansies -- A rosemary odor, Commingled with pansies -- With rue and the beautiful Puritan pansies.

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And along with the thickening smoke they began to notice another circumstance, a strange, pungent odor. They were not sure that it was unpleasant, this odor; some might have called it sickening, but their taste in odors was not developed, and they were only sure that it was curious.

One wondered about this, as also about the swarms of flies which hung about the scene, literally blackening the air, and the strange, fetid odor which assailed one's nostrils, a ghastly odor, of all the dead things of the universe.

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Inspector Jacks found himself wishing that the perfume of those lilacs might reach even to where he stood, and help him to forget for a moment that subtler and to him curiously unpleasant odor which all the time became more and more apparent.

His first instinct was to sniff, and a sense of relief crept through him when he realized that this room, at any rate, was free from abnormal odors. He sat up on the couch.

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Suddenly, a large Dog, attracted by the odor of the boiling oil, came running into the cave.

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TO THE FRIEND WHO, TREATED WITH MARKED COOLNESS BY ALL THE FEMALE MEMBERS OF MY HOUSEHOLD, AND REGARDED WITH SUSPICION BY MY VERY DOG, NEVERTHELESS SEEMS DAY BY DAY TO BE MORE DRAWN BY ME, AND IN RETURN TO MORE AND MORE IMPREGNATE ME WITH THE ODOR OF HIS FRIENDSHIP--

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I remember that odor from the time we went hunting with your electric rifle in the jungle, and got near the den in the rocks where the tigers lived."

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She inhaled the odor of the blossoms and thrust them into the bosom of her white morning gown.

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Along with these fragments were portions of waistcoats, hats, hobnailed shoes, and other clothing; a wing of a pigeon, with black feathers; a fragment of an alpenstock; a tin lantern; and lastly, a boiled leg of mutton, the only flesh among all the remains that exhaled an unpleasant odor. The guide said that the mutton had no odor when he took it from the glacier; an hour's exposure to the sun had already begun the work of decomposition upon it.

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This was our introduction to the pleasant association of sweet odors, of which it was to be our fortune to enjoy in future the most delicate and judicious communion.

View in context

Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.