Word.ws English Dictionary

smellfungus

/ˈsmɛlˌfʌŋɡəs/

smellfungus noun: a faultfinder, complainer, grumbler.

smellfungus: Grumpy orange tabby cat in front of a blue door
Photo by Vidak on Unsplash

Noun

smellfungus (plural smellfunguses or smellfungi)

  1. (archaic) A faultfinder, complainer, grumbler.
    • But this want of a softening medium, and consequently, of aerial perspective, is not the defect of the Rhine scenery in particular, but of river views in general. And then it is so rich in equivalents—so strong in picture; a true Smellfungus would exclaim, “Yes; but the pictures are all alike.”1834, Mary Boddington, Slight reminiscences of the Rhine, Switzerland, and a corner of Italy, volume I, page 81
    • Nor is she a smellfungus searching for weeds where roses grow, or setting down everything a wilderness from Braga to Barcelona.1847, “Journal of a few Months' Residence in Portugal, and Glimpses of the South of Spain”, in Quarterly Review, volume LXXXI, number CLXI, page 88

Synonyms of smellfungus

20 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of smellfungus

Forms of smellfungus

pluralsmellfunguses
pluralsmellfungi

Origin of smellfungus

From Smelfungus, name of a hypercritical traveller in A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, a satirical characterization of Tobias Smollett and his Travels Through France and Italy (1766). Apparently from smell + fungus.

Questions about smellfungus

What does smellfungus mean?
Smellfungus means a faultfinder, complainer, grumbler.
What part of speech is smellfungus?
Smellfungus is a noun.
How do you pronounce smellfungus?
Smellfungus is pronounced /ˈsmɛlˌfʌŋɡəs/.
What is the plural of smellfungus?
The plural of smellfungus is smellfunguses.

Words near smellfungus in the dictionary

  1. smellevision
  2. Smelley
  3. Smelleys
  4. smellful
  5. smellfungi
  6. smellfungus
  7. smellfunguses
  8. smellie
  9. smellier
  10. smellies
  11. smelliest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: smellfungus (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)-Flame, not lame-smellfungus.wav.

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