scent

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĕnt, IPA ^(key): /sɛnt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: cent, sent

Noun

Singular scent

Plural scents

1. (countable) A scent is a smell.

   The scent of fresh bread filled the house.

   The dogs followed the scent to a hole in the ground.

Verb

Plain form scent

Third-person singular scents

Past tense scented

Past participle scented

Present participle scenting

1. (transitive) If $x$ sents $y$, $x$ gives $y$ a smell.

   The flowers scented the room.

   He gave her a scented card.

2. (transitive) If you scent something such as danger or a story, you have a feeling that it exists.

   When the president didn't appear, the newspapers scented a story.

3. (transitive) If an animal scents something, it smells it.

   The deer ran when they scented the hunter.