Word.ws English Dictionary

come up smelling of roses

come up smelling of roses is the alternative form of smell like a rose.

Meaning of smell like a rose

Verb

smell like a rose (third-person singular simple present smells like a rose, present participle smelling like a rose, simple past and past participle smelt like a rose or smelled like a rose)

  1. (colloquial, idiomatic, simile) To be regarded as appealing, virtuous, or respectable; to be untainted or unharmed.
    • come out smelling like a rose

Forms of come up smelling of roses

third-person singular presentcomes up smelling of roses
present participlecoming up smelling of roses
pastcame up smelling of roses
past participlecome up smelling of roses

Questions about come up smelling of roses

What is come up smelling of roses the alternative form of?
Come up smelling of roses is the alternative form of smell like a rose.

Words near come up smelling of roses in the dictionary

  1. come up and bitten
  2. come up from behind
  3. come up roses
  4. come up short
  5. come up smelling like a rose
  6. come up smelling of roses
  7. come up snake eyes
  8. come up to
  9. come up trumps
  10. come up with
  11. come up with snake eyes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: come up smelling of roses (page history and authors); smell like a rose (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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