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Recent Examples of sniffing
Small signals, like a dog biting his tail or sniffing or whatever.
—
Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 26 Feb. 2026
It’s been a hard, long climb to get back within sniffing distance of the postseason.
—Aaron Portzline, New York Times, 23 Feb. 2026
And given that two cops are already sniffing around the Redfellows’ sudden propensity for premature expiration, Becket finds himself in quite a predicament.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 19 Feb. 2026
The same disaster that flirted with Canada early in the day was sniffing around Team USA on Wednesday.
—Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 18 Feb. 2026
But after that, the administration was terrified of losing Tang – Arkansas had been sniffing around – and in order to guarantee that the coach who had led a whopping 36 games in his lifetime wasn’t going anywhere, gave him a fresh new deal with a bunch more money.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 17 Feb. 2026
The Dallas City Council turned to a new search firm Wednesday to recruit a watchdog responsible for sniffing out wasteful spending, fraud and corruption in City Hall.
—Devyani Chhetri, Dallas Morning News, 11 Feb. 2026
During the talk, Cindy catches Miss Mann sniffing women's underwear, then stuffing it back into her desk.
—Edward Segarra, USA Today, 11 Feb. 2026
Barricades are up, bomb-sniffing dogs are on patrol and everyone entering the stadium area is screened at a checkpoint.
—Kris Van Cleave, CBS News, 7 Feb. 2026
Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 26 Feb. 2026
It’s been a hard, long climb to get back within sniffing distance of the postseason.
—Aaron Portzline, New York Times, 23 Feb. 2026
And given that two cops are already sniffing around the Redfellows’ sudden propensity for premature expiration, Becket finds himself in quite a predicament.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 19 Feb. 2026
The same disaster that flirted with Canada early in the day was sniffing around Team USA on Wednesday.
—Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 18 Feb. 2026
But after that, the administration was terrified of losing Tang – Arkansas had been sniffing around – and in order to guarantee that the coach who had led a whopping 36 games in his lifetime wasn’t going anywhere, gave him a fresh new deal with a bunch more money.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 17 Feb. 2026
The Dallas City Council turned to a new search firm Wednesday to recruit a watchdog responsible for sniffing out wasteful spending, fraud and corruption in City Hall.
—Devyani Chhetri, Dallas Morning News, 11 Feb. 2026
During the talk, Cindy catches Miss Mann sniffing women's underwear, then stuffing it back into her desk.
—Edward Segarra, USA Today, 11 Feb. 2026
Barricades are up, bomb-sniffing dogs are on patrol and everyone entering the stadium area is screened at a checkpoint.
—Kris Van Cleave, CBS News, 7 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sniffing
Verb
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Billowing, acrid-smelling black clouds drifted over the turquoise waters of Banderas Bay.—
Mary Beth Sheridan,
CNN Money,
24 Feb. 2026
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Her family is within smelling distance.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Your daughter breathes that same air, inhaling the virus directly into her respiratory tract.—
Elizabeth Bruenig,
The Atlantic,
12 Feb. 2026
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These new players were inhaling possibilities.—
Jerry Brewer,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sniffing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sniffing. Accessed 1 Mar. 2026.
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