English Reference

Word

fragrant

Phoneticsfra·grant

US/ˈfɹeɪɡɹənt/

UK/fɹˈeɪɡɹənt/

Definition

adj. having a pleasant or sweet smell. You use this to describe things like flowers, perfume, or delicious food.

adj. having a pleasant or sweet odour. Often used to describe botanical, culinary, or cosmetic subjects.

Examples

“The garden is full of fragrant roses.”

“The chef added fragrant herbs to the soup just before serving to enhance the aroma.”

“Walking through the cedar forest after a heavy rain, the air was so fragrant with the scent of damp wood and pine needles that it felt almost heavy.”

Examples

simple

“The garden is full of fragrant roses.”

contextual

“The chef added fragrant herbs to the soup just before serving to enhance the aroma.”

complex

“Walking through the cedar forest after a heavy rain, the air was so fragrant with the scent of damp wood and pine needles that it felt almost heavy.”

Usage

Typically used as an attributive adjective before a noun or predicatively after a linking verb like 'is' or 'smells'.

Real-World Examples

“The same laboratory has investigated pinene , a fragrant chemical naturally released by many trees.”
ScienceDaily · 19 Sept 2026
“One of the most famous dishes across West Africa is jollof rice — fragrant rice cooked down with spices, tomatoes and meat.”
NPR · 20 Aug 2026
“But coffee was then still a quite basic thing: fragrant, maybe, but incredibly bitter.”
The Guardian · 9 Feb 2025

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin frāgrāns, present active participle of frāgrō (“to smell”).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Word family

fragranceNounfragrantAdjective

This entry

Level
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Frequent
Updated

Scan code

englishreference.com/q/fragrant

English Reference