Word.ws English Dictionary

sniffing around

sniffing around is the present participle and gerund of sniff around.

Meaning of sniff around

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

Questions about sniffing around

What is sniffing around the present participle and gerund of?
Sniffing around is the present participle and gerund of sniff around.

Words near sniffing around in the dictionary

  1. sniffily
  2. sniffin'
  3. sniffiness
  4. sniffinesses
  5. sniffing
  6. sniffing around
  7. sniffing out
  8. sniffing position
  9. sniffing positions
  10. sniffing up
  11. sniffing-the-morning-air position

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sniffing around (page history and authors); 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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