smell a rat

意味

to suspect that something is dishonest or misleading

不正やごまかしがあると疑う.

例文

1. 1I smelt a rat when the seller refused to show me the bicycle.
2. 2That message asks for my password, so I smell a rat.
3. 3The competition demanded a fee before awarding my prize; I smelt a rat and reported it.
4. 4Wouldn't you smell a rat if every review used the same words and appeared on the same day?
5. 5The supposedly new laptop had someone else's photos on it; Maya smelled a rat and questioned the seller.

文法

変化するのは smell だけ：smelled、イギリス英語では smelt。a rat は単数のまま。

似た意味の表現