smelly

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word smelly. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word smelly, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say smelly in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word smelly you have here. The definition of the word smelly will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofsmelly, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Etymology 1

smell +‎ -y

Pronunciation

  • enPR: smĕlʹē, IPA(key): /ˈsmɛli/
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛli

Adjective

smelly (comparative smellier, superlative smelliest)

  1. Having a bad smell.
    She was hesitant to remove her shoes, as her socks were rather smelly.
  2. (figuratively) Having a quality that arouses suspicion.
    The detective read the documents and thought, "Something sure is smelly about this case."
  3. (figuratively, computing, slang, in extreme programming) Having signs that suggest a design problem; having a code smell.
    That smelly code needs to be refactored.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

smelly (plural smellies)

  1. (rare) A smelly person.
    • 1965, Richard Dowling, chapter 31, in All the Beautiful People, London: Arthur Barker Limited , page 228:
      And I can get home myself, thank you. Little smelly.
    • 2000, Ian Whybrow, Little Wolf’s Postbag, London: Collins, →ISBN, page 45:
      Or if you know any piglets with water pistols, maybe you could throw them a bottle of gargle and say, ‘Hoy you smellies, I bet you can’t squirt the little dangly thing up the dark end of my gob with this’.
    • 2009 June, “Anti-Fascism in Liverpool: Action! Race War to Door Wars ”, in KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library, number 58-9, London: Kate Sharpley Library, →ISSN, page 7, column 1:
      However, according to [Joey] Owens, these anarchists are all a bunch of smellies, who run away “screaming” while forever being hit over the head with iron bars by victorious fascists.
    • : Black Ship Publishing, →ISBN, page 92:
      Both of them had been called “little smellies,” because Hillie insisted their breath reeked of garlic and fish.]
    • 2014, Shweta Taneja, Cult of Chaos: An Anantya Tantrist Mystery, Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins Publishers India, →ISBN, page 212:
      I have two little smellies to think of too. Family is big and cost of living in this city is increasing by the day.

Etymology 2

A comical pronunciation of the initials SMLE.

Noun

smelly (plural smellies)

  1. (firearms, informal) a Short Magazine Lee Enfield rifle or one of its derivatives.

Anagrams

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia