Word.ws English Dictionary

smelled

/ˈsmɛld/

smelled is the simple past and past participle of smell.

Meaning of smell

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To sense a smell or smells.
    • I can smell fresh bread.
    Synonyms:
    detect, sense
    1. (broadly, transitive) To detect or perceive; often with out.
      • I smell a device.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  2. (copulative, intransitive) Followed by like or of if descriptive: to have a particular smell, whether good or bad.
    • The roses smell lovely.
    Synonyms:
    pong, reek, stink, whiff
    1. (broadly, copulative, intransitive) To smell of; to have a smell of
      • I do smell all horse-piss1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
    2. (copulative, intransitive) To smell bad; to stink.
      • Ew, this restroom smells (loathsomely).
    3. (copulative, figuratively, intransitive) To have a particular tincture or smack of any quality; to savour.
      • A report smells of calumny.

See all 10 meanings of smell

Phrases with smelled

10 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with smelled

8 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about smelled

What is smelled the simple past and past participle of?
Smelled is the simple past and past participle of smell.
How do you pronounce smelled?
Smelled is pronounced /ˈsmɛld/.

Words near smelled in the dictionary

  1. smell-o-ramas
  2. smell-o-vision
  3. smell-smock
  4. smell-smocks
  5. smellable
  6. smelled
  7. smelled a rat
  8. smelled blood
  9. smelled like a rose
  10. smelled like a tart's bedroom
  11. smelled like a tart's boudoir

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: smelled (page history and authors); smell (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-smelled.wav.

Cite this entry: “smelled.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/smelled. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.