Smell vs Feel - What's the difference?
smell | feel |
A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
* 1908 , (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows)
(physiology) The sense that detects odours.
To sense a smell or smells.
To have a particular smell, whether good or bad; if descriptive, followed by "like" or "of".
* , chapter=8
, title= (without a modifier) To smell bad; to stink.
(figurative) To have a particular tincture or smack of any quality; to savour.
* (John Milton)
(obsolete) To exercise sagacity.
To detect or perceive; often with out .
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) To give heed to.
* Latimer
(lb) To use the sense of touch.
# To become aware of through the skin; to use the sense of touch on.
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#(lb) To find one's way (literally or figuratively) by touching or using cautious movements.
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#(lb) To receive information by touch or by any neurons other than those responsible for sight, smell, taste, or hearing.
#(lb) To search by sense of touch.
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(lb) To sense or think emotionally or judgmentally.
#(lb) To experience an emotion or other mental state about.
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#*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
#*:Teach me to feel another's woe.
#*
#*:Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile?; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
#*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Lexington
, title= #(lb) To think, believe, or have an impression concerning.
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#*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
#*:Garlandswhich I feel / I am not worthy yet to wear.
#*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=19 # To experience an emotion or other mental state.
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#*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.}}
#(lb) To sympathise; to have the sensibilities moved or affected.
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#*(Edmund Burke) (1729-1797)
#*:[She] feels with the dignity of a Roman matron.
#*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
#*:who feel for all mankind
(lb) To be or become aware of.
(lb) To experience the consequences of.
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(lb) To seem (through touch or otherwise).
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To understand.
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A quality of an object experienced by touch.
A vague mental impression.
An act of fondling.
A vague understanding
An intuitive ability
Alternative form of feeling
In transitive terms the difference between smell and feel
is that smell is to sense a smell or smells while feel is to experience the consequences of.In intransitive terms the difference between smell and feel
is that smell is to have a particular smell, whether good or bad; if descriptive, followed by "like" or "of" while feel is to sympathise; to have the sensibilities moved or affected.As a pronoun feel is
alternative form of lang=en.As an adjective feel is
alternative form of lang=en.As an adverb feel is
alternative form of lang=en.smell
English
Noun
- I love the smell of fresh bread.
- The penetrating smell' of cabbage reached the nose of Toad as he lay prostrate in his misery on the floor, and gave him the idea for a moment that perhaps life was not such a blank and desperate thing as he had imagined. But still he wailed, and kicked with his legs, and refused to be comforted. So the wise girl retired for the time, but, of course, a good deal of the ' smell of hot cabbage remained behind, as it will do, and Toad, between his sobs, sniffed and reflected, and gradually began to think new and inspiring thoughts: of chivalry, and poetry...
Usage notes
* Adjectives often applied to "smell": sweet, good, nice, great, pleasant, fresh, fragrant, bad, foul, unpleasant, horrible, terrible, awful, nasty, disgusting, funny, strange, odd, sour, funky, metallic, stinky, rotten, rancid, putrid, rank, fishy.Synonyms
* (sensation) ** (pleasant) aroma, fragrance, odor/odour, scent ** (unpleasant) odor/odour, niff (informal), pong (informal), reek, stench, stink, whiff (informal) * (sense) olfaction (in technical use), sense of smell * See alsoVerb
Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=Philander went into the next room
- Praises in an enemy are superfluous, or smell of craft.
- (Shakespeare)
- I smell a device.
- From that time forward I began to smell the Word of God, and forsook the school doctors.
Usage notes
The sense "to smell bad, stink" is considered by some to be an incorrect substitute for stink.Synonyms
* (sense a smell or smells) detect, sense * (have the smell of) (all followed by'' like''' ''or'' ' of ) ** (pleasant) ** (unpleasant) pong (informal), reek, stink, whiff (informal)Derived terms
* code smells * sense of smell (see olfaction) * smell a rat * smell blood * smell like a rose * smell of an oily rag * smell test * smell the barn * smelly * wake up and smell the coffeeSee also
* anosmia * senseReferences
* *feel
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) felen, from (etyl) .Verb
Keeping the mighty honest, passage=British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.}}
citation, passage=When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. He had him gripped firmly by the arm, since he felt it was not safe to let him loose, and he had no immediate idea what to do with him.}}
Usage notes
* Most prescriptive grammarians prefer "I feel bad" to "I feel badly", but "I feel badly" is widely used in US English. * (term) is sometimes used after (feel) in its copulative sense where one might expect an adjective, ie, (bad). * Some users use (badly) when referring to an emotional state, and (bad) when referring to a more physical or medical state. * Adjectives to which "feel" is often applied as a copula: free, cold, cool, warm, hot, young, old, good, great, fine, happy, glad, satisfied, excited, bad, depressed, unhappy, sad, blue, sorry, smart, stupid, loved, appreciated, accepted, rejected, lonely, isolated, insulted, offended, slighted, cheated, shy, refreshed, tired, exhausted, calm, relaxed, angry, annoyed, frustrated, anxious, worried, jealous, proud, confident, safe, grateful, uncomfortable, unsafe, insecure, desperate, guilty, ashamed, disappointed, dirty, odd, strange, ill, sick.Derived terms
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Noun
(en noun)- Bark has a rough feel .
- You should get a feel of the area before moving in.
- She gave me a quick feel to show that she loves me.
- I'm getting a feel for what you mean.
- She has a feel for music.
- I know that feel.