parosmia

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

  • noun A distorted sense of smell, often resulting in phantom, non-existent, and mostly unpleasant, smells.

Examples

  • Note that phantosmia is different from another disorder of sense of smell, known as parosmia, in which a smell is present in your environment but is distorted.

    All MayoClinic.com Topics

  • When the temporal lobe seizes, as it might during an epileptic incident, the onset is frequently marked by phantom smells, a condition called phantosmia (not to be confused with parosmia in which a present smell is distorted).

    Scientific Blogging

  • However, occasionally patients may also present with parosmia (a distortion of the sense of smell), phantosmia (smelling things that aren't there), or permanent damage of the olfactory system.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories

Note

The word 'parosmia' comes from the prefix 'para-' in the sense 'abnormal' and a Greek root meaning 'smell'.