Meaning of smell like a rose | Babel Free

Definitions

To be regarded as appealing, virtuous, or respectable; to be untainted or unharmed.

colloquial, idiomatic

Examples

“come out smelling like a rose”

“"I don't suppose anyone from the director down will come out of this deal smelling like a rose," the warden commented, "but our only hope is that some good will result from the hearing."”

“But compared to others, Dent came out of the Depression "smelling like a rose." He later boasted that he made $18,000 a year with his writing during the Depression.”

“The champion of corporate governance should smell like a rose. Instead, there's an unpleasant whiff of pork-barrel politics rising from the board.”

CEFR level