Meanings
present singular third person sniffs out · participle present sniffing out · participle past sniffed out · past sniffed out
- transitiveTo find (something) by using the sense of smell.
Because they have far more powerful noses than humans, dogs are ideal to sniff out drugs.
- broadlyfigurativelytransitiveTo detect (something hidden or invisible).
Near-synonyms: ferret out, weasel out
1 more example
Luisa Rey plays the ditzy reporter on her best behavior to assure Fay Li she poses no threat. Only then might she be given a free enough rein to sniff out Sixsmith’s fellow dissidents.
2004, David Mitchell, “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery”, in Cloud Atlas, →ISBN, page 130Synonyms: ferret out, weasel out
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo detect (something hidden or invisible).
More synonyms by meaning
verbrecognize or detect by or as if by smelling
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Arabic يَشُمّ, يَكْتَشِف
- يَشُمّ (yašumm)find something using smell
- يَكْتَشِف (yaktašif)find something using smell
- عَثَر عَلَى (ʕaṯar ʕalā)find something using smell
Chinese Mandarin 嗅出, 找出
- 嗅出 (xiùchū)find something using smell
- 找出 (zhǎochū)find
Finnish nuuskia
- nuuskiafind something using smell
Hungarian kiszimatol, kiszimatol
- kiszimatolfind something using smell
- kiszimatolfind
Italian trovare, scovare
- trovarefind
- scovarefind
Japanese 嗅ぎ付ける, 嗅ぎ付ける
- 嗅ぎ付ける (kagitsukeru)find something using smell
- 嗅ぎ付ける (kagitsukeru)find
Polish węszyć, wywęszyć
- węszyćfind something using smell
- wywęszyćfind something using smell
- niuchaćfind something using smell
- wyniuchaćfind something using smell
- węszyćfind
- wywęszyćfind
- niuchaćfind
- wyniuchaćfind
Portuguese farejar, farejar
- farejarfind something using smell
- farejarfind
Russian выню́хивать, вы́нюхать
- выню́хивать (vynjúxivatʹ)find something using smell
- вы́нюхать (výnjuxatʹ)find something using smell
- выню́хивать (vynjúxivatʹ)find
- вы́нюхать (výnjuxatʹ)find
- разню́хивать (raznjúxivatʹ)find
- разню́хать (raznjúxatʹ)find
Cite this entry
sniff out. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sniff%20out
“sniff out.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sniff%20out. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sniff out,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sniff%20out.
Source: sniff out on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.