Word.ws English Dictionary

smell one's own farts

smell one's own farts verb: to become conceited; to believe that one's achievements are greater than they really are.

Verb

smell one's own farts (third-person singular simple present smells one's own farts, present participle smelling one's own farts, simple past and past participle smelled one's own farts)

  1. (idiomatic) To become conceited; to believe that one's achievements are greater than they really are.
    • These ivory-tower bureaucrats have been sitting in an echo chamber for months now, smelling their own farts, not realizing these ham-fisted policies really aren't working.

Forms of smell one's own farts

third-person singular presentsmells one's own farts
present participlesmelling one's own farts
past participlesmelled one's own farts
pastsmelled one's own farts
alternative formsniff one's own farts

Origin of smell one's own farts

Named after the fact that one is liable to become acclimatized to, or even come to like, the smell of one's own farts, whilst still recognizing others' as foul. The acclimatization is likened to becoming out-of-touch with the reality of one's mediocrity.

Questions about smell one's own farts

What does smell one's own farts mean?
Smell one's own farts means to become conceited; to believe that one's achievements are greater than they really are.
What part of speech is smell one's own farts?
Smell one's own farts is a verb.
What is the past tense of smell one's own farts?
The past tense of smell one's own farts is smelled one's own farts.

Words near smell one's own farts in the dictionary

  1. smell like a tart's handbag
  2. smell like a tart's handkerchief
  3. smell of an oily rag
  4. smell of the lamp
  5. smell of the shop
  6. smell one's own farts
  7. smell oneself
  8. smell out
  9. smell test
  10. smell tests
  11. smell the barn

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: smell one's own farts (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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