smell a rat
Definition
› to recognize that something is not as it appears to be or that something dishonest is happening: He's been working late with her every night this week - I smell a rat!Suspecting and questioningQuestioning people and asking questions in generalCuriosity
(Definition of smell a rat from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
Browse related topics
You are looking at an entry to do with Suspecting & questioning, but you might be interested in these topics from the Communication topic area:
- Admitting & confessing
- Announcing, informing & stating
- Answering & responding
- Assertions & asserting
- Codes & decoding
- Communicating & keeping in touch
- Debate & discussion
- Defining & explaining
- Describing & telling stories
- Exaggerating & playing down
- Gestures & gesturing
- Giving advice
- Giving orders & commands
- Informal talking & conversation
- Insults & abuse
- Interrupting & preventing from speaking
- Inviting & summoning
- Lecturing & addressing
- Making & accepting apologies
- Making & breaking promises & commitments
- Making appeals & requests
- Meaning & significance
- Meeting people
- Official meetings
- People who reveal secrets & tell tales
- Questioning people & asking questions in general
- Quoting & making references
- Remarks & remarking
- Revealing secrets & becoming known
- Saying & uttering
- Saying again
- Speakers & talkers
- Stressing & emphasizing
- Suggestions & proposals
- Threats & warnings
- Topics & areas of interest
- Welcoming, greeting & greetings
- Written greetings
- Yes, no & not
Browse the Thesaurus
SMART Thesaurus
Synonyms and related words:
- call into question idiom
- challenge noun (QUESTION)
- challenge verb (DOUBT)
- challenge verb (STOP)
- cynic noun
- cynical adjective
- dispute verb
- doubter noun
- doubting Thomas noun
- I'd like to see... idiom
- misgiving noun
- niggle noun (WORRY)
- qualm noun
- query noun
- query verb
- reservation noun (DOUBT)
- sceptical adjective
- skeptic noun
- suspect verb (DOUBT)
- suspicion noun (DOUBT)
Topic:
Suspecting & questioning
Word of the Day
throw caution to the wind/winds
to do something without worrying about the risk or negative results
Blog
Read our blog about how the English language behaves.
New Words
Find words and meanings that have just started to be used in English, and let us know what you think of them.
