How to Use sniff at in a Sentence

sniff at

verb
  • Her black cat sniffs at the flood’s edge.
    — Wyatt Williams, Harpers Magazine, 26 May 2026
  • So 9 knots is not to be sniffed at.
    — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 29 Mar. 2026
  • The point itself is not to be sniffed at.
    — Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 3 Dec. 2025
  • As for that sell-on clause, QPR won’t sniff at it.
    — Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2025
  • His dog, Bull, wagged his tail and sniffed at the patch of browning grass under his paws.
    — Molly Davis, Nashville Tennessean, 12 Nov. 2025
  • The other two Klimts on offer are nothing to sniff at, either.
    — Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 12 Nov. 2025
  • In this blue-collar town, which is still mourning the loss of its steel industry, those aren’t numbers to sniff at.
    — Andrew Dickson, Bloomberg, 2 May 2026
  • The dog was then shown sniffing at the competition, with skiers looking somewhat confused by their new rival.
    — Ben Church, CNN Money, 18 Feb. 2026
  • That’s nothing to sniff at — especially with how inconsistent the other units have been.
    — Zack Rosenblatt, New York Times, 1 Dec. 2025
  • Considering how robust the company’s hyper-local audience is, that bump is nothing to sniff at.
    — Justin Birnbaum, Sportico.com, 18 June 2026
  • That's nothing to sniff at, though, as the cost of previous halftime show performances reportedly range from $10 to $20 million.
    — Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Feb. 2026
  • Nine goals in their past two league matches is also not to be sniffed at, with a lot of that attacking firepower helped by playing Igor Jesus and Wood together up front.
    — Mark Carey, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2026
  • Achieving Wrexham’s highest league finish — the previous best was 15th in the old Second Division, set in 1978-79 — is not to be sniffed at.
    — Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 3 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sniff at.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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