Perfume

//ˈpɜːfjuːm// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A pleasant smell; the scent, odor, or odoriferous particles emitted from a sweet-smelling substance; a pleasant odor. countable, uncountable

    "Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines."

  2. 2
    a toiletry that emits and diffuses a fragrant odor wordnet
  3. 3
    A substance created to provide a pleasant smell or one which emits an agreeable odor. countable, uncountable

    "She bought a perfume at the airport."

  4. 4
    a distinctive odor that is pleasant wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To apply perfume to; to fill or impregnate with a perfume; to scent. transitive
  2. 2
    apply perfume to wordnet
  3. 3
    fill or impregnate with an odor wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
aromafragrancescentaromafragranceaerate

Antonyms

All antonyms
stench

Example

More examples

"The perfume of roses filled the room."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French parfum, perfum. Doublet of parfum.

Related phrases

Arizona perfumeacoustic perfumeperfume ball

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