sniffverb
uk/snɪf/us/snɪf/C2 [ I or T ] to smell something by taking air in through your nose:
He sniffed his socks to see if they needed washing.
Dogs love sniffing each other.
She sniffed at her glass of wine before tasting it.
Dogs are sometimes used at airports to sniff out (= find by smelling) drugs in people's luggage.
He was expelled from school for sniffing glue (= taking in the gas from glue because of the feelings of pleasure that this gives).
C2 [ I ] to take air in quickly through your nose, usually to stop the liquid inside the nose from flowing out:
You're sniffing a lot - do you have a cold?
[ T ] to speak in an unpleasant way, showing that you have a low opinion of something:
[ + speech ] "They didn't even serve wine at dinner!" she sniffed.
More examples
- He sniffed the flowers.
- The dog sniffed around his feet.
- She sniffed the forkful and put it back on her plate.
- As she turned away I saw him sniff furtively under his arm.
- Could you blow your nose instead of sniffing?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Smells & smelling
- acrid
- aroma
- beery
- bouquet
- cheesy
- foetid
- fragrance
- frowsty
- odour
- putrid
- scratch-and-sniff
- smell somewhere out
- smell sth/sb out
- sniff sth/sb out
- sour
- stagnant
- stench
- stinky
- waft
- woody
See more results »
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Colds & flu
Showing arrogance and conceit
Phrasal verb(s)
sniff at sth
sniff sth/sb out
sniff sth out
sniffnoun [ C ]
uk/snɪf/us/snɪf/a quick breath in through the nose to smell something, or to stop liquid in the nose from coming out:
Take a sniff of this medicine - it smells horrible, doesn't it?
"I don't think much of that idea," she said with a sniff (= an expression of a low opinion).
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Smells & smelling
- acrid
- aroma
- beery
- bouquet
- cheesy
- foetid
- fragrance
- frowsty
- odour
- putrid
- scratch-and-sniff
- smell somewhere out
- smell sth/sb out
- sniff sth/sb out
- sour
- stagnant
- stench
- stinky
- waft
- woody
See more results »
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Colds & flu