Meaning & use
scent
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Meanings
nouncountable
A smell, particularly a pleasing one like a flower or perfume.
Grammar: Often followed by of: the scent of roses.
Patterns
- the scent of something
- a scent of something
The scent of fresh bread filled the kitchen.
She followed the sweet scent of jasmine through the garden.
A faint scent of pine hung in the cabin.
nouncountable
The trail of smell left by an animal or person that dogs and other animals can follow.
Grammar: Often used with pick up, lose or follow: the dog lost the scent.
Patterns
- pick up a scent
- lose the scent
- on the scent of something
The hounds picked up the fox's scent at the edge of the woods.
Rain washed away the scent, so the search dog lost the trail.
The police dog followed the scent to the river.
nouncountableBritish
A perfume or fragrance worn on the skin.
Grammar: Mainly British; Americans say perfume or fragrance.
Patterns
- wear a scent
She wears a light floral scent every day.
He bought his mother a bottle of scent for her birthday.
verbtransitive
To notice or sense something by smelling it, or to feel that something is about to happen.
Grammar: Takes an object: scent danger; often used figuratively.
Patterns
- scent something
- scent that something
The deer scented danger and bolted.
Reporters scented a scandal and started asking questions.
I could scent rain in the air.
verbtransitive
To give something a pleasant smell, usually by adding oil or perfume.
Grammar: Often appears as the adjective scented: scented candles.
Patterns
- scent something with something
She scented the room with lavender oil.
The soap is scented with lemon.
Word forms
| plural | scents |
|---|---|
| third person singular | scents |
| past tense | scented |
| past participle | scented |
| -ing form | scenting |
Common combinations
- a sweet scent
- The garden had a sweet scent in the evening.
- pick up a scent
- The dog picked up the scent immediately.
- lose the scent
- Heavy rain made the hounds lose the scent.
- a faint scent
- A faint scent of smoke drifted in.
- throw someone off the scent
- He changed his route to throw the reporters off the scent.
- scent of success
- The team could smell the scent of success.
Synonyms and how they differ
- smell
- Smell is the neutral word and can be unpleasant, whereas scent usually suggests something pleasant or delicate.
- aroma
- Aroma is a strong, usually appealing smell, especially of food or coffee.
- fragrance
- Fragrance is the most flattering word and is often used for flowers or perfume.
- odor
- Odor is a more formal word that is often used for bad smells.
Opposites
Word family
- scented adjective
- having a pleasant smell
- scentless adjective
- having no smell
- unscented adjective
- without added fragrance
Commonly confused: scent or sent? scent or cent?
scent vs sent
Sent is the past tense of send and sounds the same as scent.
scent vs cent
A cent is a small coin worth one hundredth of a dollar and sounds exactly like scent.
Practice
The detective was on the ___ of a clue that could solve the case.
Choose one answer.
On the scent of means close to finding something, borrowing the idea of an animal following a smell. Sent, cent and sense do not fit this idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “scent”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.