olfactory
adjective
ōl-
Did you know?
No, olfactory is not a noun meaning “a place that makes scents”; for that, you want perfumery, which makes more sense. Olfactory is instead an adjective used to describe things related to one’s sense of smell, that which lets you detect fruit with your snoot, a leek with your beak, Shiraz with your schnozz. Olfactory comes from the Latin word olfacere (“to smell”), which in turn combines two verbs, olēre (“to give off a smell”) and facere (“to do”). It 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 is occasionally used in less technical writing and speech. The pleasant smell of hot mulled cider, for example, might be considered an “olfactory delight,” depending on the spices and your own sensibilities, of course. As they say, the nose knows.
Examples of olfactory in a Sentence
Sandra Salibian, Footwear News, 17 June 2025
The olfactory experience brings to mind the search for a way from the shadows to the light.
—Angelina Villa-Clarke, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025
Of all of the fire prevention measures available to boaters, the most powerful is probably the olfactory systems of captain, crew and passengers.
—David Lyons, Sun Sentinel, 30 May 2025
The script also has an olfactory plot twist — to say more would be a spoiler — that is implausible, given the set’s tight dimensions.
—Laura Collins-Hughes, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for olfactory
Cite this Entry
“Olfactory.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/olfactory. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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olfactory
adjective
Medical Definition
olfactory
adjective
ōl-
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