【Odorous】 , 【fragrant】 , 【redolent】 , 【aromatic】 , 【balmy】 mean emitting and diffusing scent.
【Odorous】 applies to whatever has a strong, distinctive smell, whether it is pleasant or not.
【Fragrant】 applies to something with a sweet and agreeable odor, especially to flowers, fruits, spices, and beverages that through their lingering sweetness or richness of scent give sensuous delight.
【Redolent】 occasionally means pleasantly 【odorous】 ; in such use it applies not only to things that diffuse a scent but to the scent itself.
More often it applies to a place or thing impregnated with odors, especially with those that are penetrating.
【Aromatic】 is more restricted in its implications than aroma, for it distinctively suggests a pungent, often fresh, odor of the kind associated with the foliage of balsams, pine, and spruce, the wood of cedar, the dried leaves of lavender, such spices as cloves, and such gums as myrrh. It is therefore often applied to preparations scented with substances that are 【aromatic】 .
【Balmy】 applies chiefly to things which have a delicate and soothing 【aromatic】 odor.
