Word
olfactory
Phoneticsol·fac·to·ry
US/oʊɫˈfæktɝi/
UK/ɒlfˈæktəɹˌi/
Definition
adj. relating to your sense of smell. You use this word when talking about how the nose and brain process different scents.
adj. relating to the sense of smell or the organs involved in smelling. Often used in biological or medical contexts to describe nerves, bulbs, or stimuli.
Examples
“The kitchen was filled with a wonderful olfactory delight.”
“Dogs have a much more developed olfactory system than humans, allowing them to track scents over long distances.”
“The novelist used rich olfactory imagery to transport readers to the damp, spice-filled markets of the ancient port city.”
Examples
simple
“The kitchen was filled with a wonderful olfactory delight.”
contextual
“Dogs have a much more developed olfactory system than humans, allowing them to track scents over long distances.”
complex
“The novelist used rich olfactory imagery to transport readers to the damp, spice-filled markets of the ancient port city.”
Usage
Typically used in technical, scientific, or formal descriptive contexts; often precedes nouns like 'system', 'nerve', or 'sense'.
Real-World Examples
“An international research team of Ilona Croy, Tomasz Frackowiak, Thomas Hummel and Agnieszka Sorokowska investigated why teenagers lose this special olfactory advantage and has now been awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for the research.” “The idea was that, when a fly registers the plume with olfactory neurons in its antennae, it simply flies upwind until it’s gone and then flies side to side attempting to catch it again.” Etymology
From Latin olfactus (“an act of smelling; the sense of smell”) + -ory, from olfaciō (“to sniff, smell, scent”) + -tus (action noun suffix).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/olfactory