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Looking for the word that describes a plethora of various aromas/odors....in the same vein as that wondrous word "cacophony". At lunchtime, the office is filled with these scents emanating from the cubes, a mixture of all possible ethnic cooking... we are at a loss to describe this .... Any help?
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a plethora of various aromas/odors
Melange comes to mind, although it doesn't refer specifically to smells.
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Anonymous
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i suppose you could call it an esculent potpourri
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Carpal Tunnel
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If the smell isn't so crash-hot, I would suggest miasma. I've always liked that word, I have.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Wouldn't a miasma imply something more physical than just a collection of odours? To me it implies something almost palpable like a mist or fog.
Bingley
Bingley
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a plethora of various aromas/odors
Melange comes to mind, although it doesn't refer specifically to smells.Why not smelange?
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Miasma is a very expressive word, in Spanish it also means the spray emitted when someone sneezes. Referring to your question we could coin a new word “cacosme/cacosmic”. It sounds well to me.
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Bingley wonders Wouldn't a miasma imply something more physical than just a collection of odours? To me it implies something almost palpable like a mist or fog.
Yes, that's the way it's often used. The definitions I found are:
mi·as·ma (m-zm, m-) n., pl. mi·as·mas or mi·as·ma·ta (-m-t).
A noxious atmosphere or influence: “The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma” (Louis Auchincloss).
A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease. A thick, vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Greek pollution, stain, from miainein, to pollute.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- mi·asmal or mias·matic (mz-mtk) or mi·asmic (-mk) adj. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright © 1996, 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
miasma \Mi*as"ma\, n.; pl. Miasmata. [NL., fr. Gr. ? defilement, fr. ? to pollute.] Infectious particles or germs floating in the air; air made noxious by the presence of such particles or germs; noxious effluvia; malaria. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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miasma n 1: an unwholesome atmosphere; "the novel spun a miasma of death and decay" 2: unhealthy vapors rising from the ground or other sources; "the miasma of the marshes" or "a miasma of cigar smoke" Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Why not smelange?I love it. I hereby name you Word-Coiner Extraordinaire!
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