adj
Meaning 1
Having a bad smell.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- She was hesitant to remove her shoes, as her socks were rather smelly.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
smelly
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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smĕlʹē
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/ˈsmɛli/
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛli
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CMU ARPABET: S M EH1 L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Having a quality that arouses suspicion.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
Examples
- The detective read the documents and thought, "Something sure is smelly about this case."
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
Having signs that suggest a design problem; having a code smell.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, slang
Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
Examples
- That smelly code needs to be refactored.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A smelly person.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
a Short Magazine Lee Enfield rifle or one of its derivatives.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: informal
Topics: engineering, firearms, government, military, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, politics, tools, war, weaponry
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 6
offensively malodorous
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a foul odor
- the kitchen smelled really funky
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: fetid, foetid, foul, foul-smelling, funky, noisome, stinking, ill-scented
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *smel-der. Proto-West Germanic *smalljan Old English *smiellan Middle English smellen English smell English -y English smelly From smell + -y.
A comical pronunciation of the initials SMLE.
Across languages
Translations
66 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Arabic: مُنْتِن (muntin) — having a bad smell
- Bashkir: һаҫыҡ (haśıq) — having a bad smell
- Bulgarian: воня́щ (vonjášt) — having a bad smell
- Bulgarian: зловонен (zlovonen) — having a bad smell
- Catalan: pudent — having a bad smell
- Chinese Mandarin: 臭 (chòu) — having a bad smell
- Czech: smradlavý — having a bad smell
- Danish: ildelugtende — having a bad smell
- Esperanto: malbonodora — having a bad smell
- Esperanto: odoraĉa — having a bad smell
- Esperanto: fetora — having a bad smell
- Esperanto: haladza — having a bad smell
- Finnish: pahanhajuinen — having a bad smell
- Finnish: haiseva — having a bad smell
- French: puant — having a bad smell
- French: puante — having a bad smell
- French: malodorant — having a bad smell
- Galician: cheirento — having a bad smell
- Galician: fedorento — having a bad smell
- German: stinkend — having a bad smell
- Hebrew: מסריח (masríakh) — having a bad smell
- White Hmong: tsw phem — having a bad smell
- Hungarian: büdös — having a bad smell
- Italian: puzzolente — having a bad smell
- Italian: puzzoso — having a bad smell
- Italian: fetente — having a bad smell
- Italian: fetido — having a bad smell
- Italian: maleodorante — having a bad smell
- Italian: graveolente — having a bad smell
- Japanese: 臭い (kusai) — having a bad smell
- Khmer: ផ្ដុស (pdoh) — having a bad smell
- Korean: 냄새나는 (naemsae-naneun) — having a bad smell
- Korean: 지독한 (jidok-han) — having a bad smell
- Latin: odōrus — having a bad smell
- Latvian: smirdīgs — having a bad smell
- Latvian: smirdošs — having a bad smell
- Malay: busuk — having a bad smell
- Maltese: jinten — having a bad smell
- Māori: haunga — having a bad smell
- Māori: piro — having a bad smell
- Māori: kenokeno — having a bad smell
- Māori: whakapiro — having a bad smell
- Nepali: गनाउने (ganāune) — having a bad smell
- Polish: śmierdzący — having a bad smell
- Polish: cuchnący — having a bad smell
- Polish: smrodliwy — having a bad smell
- Portuguese: fedorento — having a bad smell
- Romanian: mirositor — having a bad smell
- Russian: воню́чий (vonjúčij) — having a bad smell
- Russian: ду́рно па́хнущий (dúrno páxnuščij) — having a bad smell
- Russian: злово́нный (zlovónnyj) — having a bad smell
- Spanish: maloliente — having a bad smell
- Swedish: illaluktande — having a bad smell
- Tagalog: mabaho — having a bad smell
- Thai: เหม็น (měn) — having a bad smell
- Vietnamese: thối — having a bad smell
- Vietnamese: thúi — having a bad smell
- Vietnamese: hôi — having a bad smell
- Vietnamese: khắm — having a bad smell
- Volapük: lusmelik — having a bad smell
- Bulgarian: съмнителен (sǎmnitelen) — having a quality that arouses suspicion
- Czech: podezřelý — having a quality that arouses suspicion
- Finnish: epäilyttävä — having a quality that arouses suspicion
- Italian: sospetto — having a quality that arouses suspicion
- Finnish: surkea — computing: of inferior quality
- Finnish: onneton — computing: of inferior quality
Real reading context