smell of

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Loud trucks kept passing and honking their horns, leaving a smell of burning diesel fuel in their wake.

From Slate • May 29, 2026

Inside, time seemed to move differently: tennis whites drying beneath the afternoon sun, bridge rooms carrying the faint smell of cigarettes and talcum powder, elderly members reading newspapers beneath slow ceiling fans.

From BBC • May 25, 2026

You know the weather: warm wind, faint smell of rain, the vague sense that a storm could roll in at any minute.

From Salon • May 19, 2026

It was a tale about organic matter, the sound and smell of silk, wool and cotton, their inevitable decay a result of skin secretions, chemicals, light and time.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026

Then there were no plants at all; just bubbling steam and the rotten-egg smell of the Hissing Stones, but a hundred times stronger.

From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr