Word.ws English Dictionary

sniff around

sniff around verb: investigate; inspect; look for information.

Verb

sniff around (third-person singular simple present sniffs around, present participle sniffing around, simple past and past participle sniffed around)

  1. Investigate; inspect; look for information.
    • If he moved a muscle, they would both be in DEEP TROUBLE.
      “It must have been a bird, Mr Big,” said Dad.
      “Ruddy big bird,” muttered the little man. “Now we have to get out of here before the fuzz start sniffing around. Fingers, get the Rolls resprayed and change the number plates in case they trace...2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

Forms of sniff around

third-person singular presentsniffs around
present participlesniffing around
past participlesniffed around
pastsniffed around

Questions about sniff around

What does sniff around mean?
Sniff around means investigate; inspect; look for information.
What part of speech is sniff around?
Sniff around is a verb.
What is the past tense of sniff around?
The past tense of sniff around is sniffed around.

Words near sniff around in the dictionary

  1. snidey
  2. snie
  3. snied
  4. snies
  5. sniff
  6. sniff around
  7. sniff out
  8. sniff stick
  9. sniff test
  10. sniff tests
  11. sniff up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sniff around (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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