smell fishy
Arouse vague suspicion
To smell fishy is to seem suspicious or dubious—something about a situation doesn't add up.
The expression draws on the association of fish with an unpleasant odor that signals spoilage: The whole deal smells fishy to me.
Often shortened to just fishy: There's something fishy going on here.
- suspiciousInclined to distrust
- gut feelingInstinctive sense about something
- reekEmit strong odor
- dubiousOf uncertain reliability
- badOf inferior quality
wariness · raise eyebrows · deceit · duplicity · incredulity · falsehood · scam · hoax · stench · odoriferous · distrust · scent · skepticism · doubtfulness · fraud · whiff · trickery · sketchy
trustworthiness/credibility
smell fishyring true
Seem authentic or credible
check out · hold water · add up · pass muster · make sense
smell, fishy, smells, smelled, smelling, smelly, smellier, smelliest, fish