puzzare

Italian

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

puzzo (“smell, stink”) +‎ -are (1^st conjugation verbal suffix)

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -are
• Hyphenation: puz‧zà‧re

Verb

puzzare

1. ‎(intransitive) To smell (bad) or stink.

   La stanza puzza di fumo ― The room smells like cigarettes (literally, “The room smells like smoke”)

2. ‎(intransitive, figurative):
   1. To cause worry or unease.
   2. To be annoying or irritating.
   3. To give an impression, to seem; constructed as puzzare di: to give an impression of, to seem like
      • 1840, Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi‎^[1], Tip. Guglielmini e Redaelli, Capitolo XI, page 222:

        Gervaso, a cui non pareva vero d’essere una volta più informato degli altri, a cui non pareva piccola gloria l’avere avuta una gran paura, a cui, per aver tenuto di mano a una cosa che puzzava di criminale, pareva d’esser diventato un uomo come gli altri, crepava di voglia di vantarsene.

        Jervase, who could scarcely believe that for once he knew a little more than others, who regarded having had a great fear not as a small glory, and who, for having had a hand in what seemed like a criminal affair, felt himself a man like the others, was dying to boast about it.

   4. To despise or disdain.

Derived terms

• puzzacchiare
• puzzicchiare
• puzzone

Related terms

• puzzo/puzza
• puzzolente
• puzzore
• puzzoso

Anagrams

• purezza, puzzerà

References

• puzzare in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana