What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Scent vs Whiff - What's the difference?

scent | whiff |

As nouns the difference between scent and whiff

is that scent is a distinctive odour or smell while whiff is a waft; a brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air.

As verbs the difference between scent and whiff

is that scent is to detect the scent of while whiff is to waft.

As an adjective whiff is

having a strong or unpleasant odor.

scent

English

Alternative forms

* (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A distinctive odour or smell.
    • the scent of flowers
    the scent of a skunk
  • An odour left by an animal that may be used for tracing.
    • The dogs lost the scent .
  • The sense of smell.
    • I believe the bloodhound has the best scent of all dogs.
  • A perfume.
  • (figuratively) Any trail or trace that can be followed to find something or someone.

    • Usage notes

    * Almost always applied to agreeable odors (fragrances ).

    Synonyms

    * fragrance * perfume * aroma * odor * smell

    Derived terms

    * scentless

    Verb

  • to detect the scent of
    • The hounds scented the fox in the woods.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Methinks I scent the morning air.
  • to impart an odour to
    • Scent the air with burning sage before you begin your meditation.
  • * Dryden
    • Balm from a silver box distilled around, / Shall all bedew the roots, and scent the sacred ground.
  • To have a smell.
  • * Holland
    • Thunderbolts do scent strongly of brimstone.
  • To hunt animals by means of the sense of smell.

    • Anagrams

    * cents

    whiff

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A waft; a brief, gentle breeze; a light gust of air
  • An odour carried briefly through the air
  • * (rfdate)
    • everyone has always known, widely promiscuous heterosexual men have, as I say, a whiff of the bathhouse about them.
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), Chapter 2
    • A whiff of rotten eggs had vanquished the pale clouded yellows which came pelting across the orchard and up Dods Hill and away on to the moor
  • A short inhalation of breath, especially of smoke from a cigarette or pipe
  • * Longfellow
    • The skipper, he blew a whiff from his pipe, / And a scornful laugh laughed he.
  • (figurative) a slight sign of something; a glimpse
  • * 2012 , Ben Smith, Leeds United 2-1 Everton [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19632366]
    • This was a rare whiff of the big-time for a club whose staple diet became top-flight football for so long - the glamour was in short supply, however. Thousands of empty seats and the driving Yorkshire rain saw to that.
  • (baseball) A strike (from the batter’s perspective)
  • The megrim, a fish .

    • Synonyms

    * puff * sniff * waft

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To waft.
  • To sniff.
  • (baseball) To strike out.
  • (slang) to attempt to strike and miss, especially being off-balance/vulnerable after missing.
  • To throw out in whiffs; to consume in whiffs; to puff.
  • To carry or convey by a whiff, or as by a whiff; to puff or blow away.
  • * Ben Jonson
    • Old Empedocles, who, when he leaped into Etna, having a dry, sear body, and light, the smoke took him, and whiffed him up into the moon.

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (colloquial) Having a strong or unpleasant odor.
  • * 2002: Jim Rozen, Way oil in rec.crafts.metalworking
    • Whoo boy that gear oil is pretty whiff . If you actually do this, spend the extra money for the synthetic gear oil as it will not have as bad a sulfur stink as the regular stuff.

    Derived terms

    * whiffle