delicate – subtle, faint, smell that is not overpowering.aroma – a smell that is strong but pleasant.antiseptic – clean or pure smell that is bland an characterless.Use these words that describe smells when you are setting a scene. The loss of the sense of smell can ‘affect one’s ability to form and maintain close personal relationships and can lead to depression’.ħ5 Words That Describe Smells General Words Describing Smells If you lose your sense of smell you can feel isolated and cut-off from the world.‘Smelt’ is more commonly used in British spelling and ‘smelled’ is used in US spelling. You can say ‘I smelled’ or ‘I smelt’ if you are using the past tense of the verb.A bad smell warns us that we are in danger, for example, when we smell smoke or rotten food.īecause of this power, writers can use the sense of smell to show a character‘s background, or to move a plot forward. It is one of our most important survival mechanisms.Smell is one of the most important reasons people are attracted to each other. It can transport us back in time in a moment. The sense of smell is more closely linked with memory than any of the other senses.Smell is one of the most powerful senses. To smell is ‘to notice or recognise the smell of something’. About SmellĪ smell is ‘the pleasant or unpleasant quality of something that you notice when you breathe in through your nose’. In this post, I am writing about words that describe smells. We also have a post on words that describe colours. I have written about words that describe taste, and touch, and sound in previous posts.
#TYPES OF IMAGERY SMELL HOW TO#
Using the senses is one of the best ways for writers to learn how to show and not tell. They make their stories real by allowing us to experience what their characters see, smell, hear, taste, and touch. Great writers use the five senses when they write. This post is about how writers could and should use words that describe smells. Writers know that using the senses is a great way to make stories come alive.