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Definition of olfactory
: of or relating to the sense of smell olfactory receptors olfactory sensations
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olfactory was our Word of the Day on 09/17/2014. Hear the podcast!
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Recent Examples of olfactory from the Web
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Jane Yong Kim explores the artist’s Guggenheim show, which uses olfactory experiments to overturn assumptions about gender, race, and hygiene.
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To fuel their discussions, specialists in the fields of sound composition, olfactory reaction and even animal behavior were brought in.
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The olfactory system comprises six million to 10 million receptor cells (of which there are nearly 400 different types) and links to multiple brain structures and neural pathways including those involved in memory, emotion and movement.
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More than 90 percent of Parkinson’s patients report some level of olfactory dysfunction.
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Plenty of perfume brands, like Maison Martin Margiela with their line Replica, try to tap into the idea of olfactory memories.
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During the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, one young Laotian mother attended a fussy baby whose olfactory message from her diaper was unmistakably urgent.
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The stilted conversations also address matters of spirit and essence — and life itself, emblemized at great length by an onion — after Jack’s visions shift from the olfactory, this time the result of getting the ashes of his beloved dog in his eyes.
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Grinnell Morris leads the uneven cast as Jack Sutree, head of olfactory research in the fictional City University’s biomedical department.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'olfactory'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Olfactory derives from the past participle of the Latin olfacere, which means "to smell" and which was formed from the verb olēre (also "to smell") and facere ("to do"). Olfactory is a word that often appears in scientific contexts (as in "olfactory nerves," the nerves that pass from the nose to the brain and contain the receptors that make smelling possible), but it has occasionally branched out into less specialized contexts. The pleasant smell of spring flowers, for example, might be considered an "olfactory delight." A related word, olfaction, is a noun referring to the sense of smell or the act or process of smelling.
OLFACTORY Defined for English Language Learners
olfactory
playDefinition of olfactory for English Language Learners
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: of, relating to, or connected with the sense of smell
OLFACTORY Defined for Kids
olfactory
playDefinition of olfactory for Students
: of or relating to smelling or the sense of smell olfactory nerves
Medical Dictionary
Learn More about olfactory
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See words that rhyme with olfactory Spanish Central: Translation of olfactory Nglish: Translation of olfactory for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of olfactory for Arabic speakers
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