Olfactory

//ɒlˈfak.tə.ɹi// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Ellipsis of olfactory organ. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
  2. 2
    The sense of smell. in-plural
Adjective
  1. 1
    Concerning the sense of smell. not-comparable, relational
Adjective
  1. 1
    of or relating to olfaction wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
odorousolfactive

Example

More examples

"Having fifty times as many olfactory neural receptors as human beings, dogs have a sense of small that is a hundred thousand times more acute."

Etymology

From Latin olfactus (“an act of smelling; the sense of smell”) + -ory, from olfaciō (“to sniff, smell, scent”) + -tus (action noun suffix).

Related phrases

olfactory bulbolfactory capsuleolfactory kissolfactory lobeolfactory nerveolfactory organolfactory reference syndrome

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.