fleck

[ flek ]
See synonyms for: fleckfleckedfleckless on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a speck; a small bit: a fleck of dirt.

  2. a spot or small patch of color, light, etc.: the dapple mare with flecks of gray.

  1. a spot or mark on the skin, as a freckle.

verb (used with object)
  1. to mark with a fleck or flecks; spot; dapple.

Origin of fleck

1
1350–1400; Middle English flekked spotted; akin to Old Norse flekkr spot, streak, Old High German flec (German Fleck), Middle Low German, Middle Dutch vlecken to soil

Other words for fleck

Other words from fleck

  • fleckless, adjective
  • fleck·less·ly, adverb
  • flecky, adjective
  • un·flecked, adjective

Words that may be confused with fleck

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use fleck in a sentence

  • Most are in their teens or 20s, and all have the restless eyes and scar-flecked visages of consummate brawlers.

  • He had nearly bitten his swollen tongue in two falling over an unseen peat-cutting, and blood-flecked foam gathered on his lips.

    Uncanny Tales | Various
  • The river, perfectly clear of rocks, was a sheet of liquid porphyry, an arrow of dark-red water slightly flecked with foam.

    Overland | John William De Forest
  • The youthful pair start beneath the smile of a blue sky, flecked with milk-while clouds merely to heighten the effect.

  • At first the forest silence seemed cheerful there in the flecked sunlight.

    In Search of the Unknown | Robert W. Chambers
  • The horse was foam-flecked, and it was plain he had been driven to the limit of his endurance.

    Frank Merriwell's Bravery | Burt L. Standish

British Dictionary definitions for fleck

fleck

/ (flɛk) /


noun
  1. a small marking or streak; speckle

  2. a small particle; speck: a fleck of dust

verb
  1. Also: flecker (tr) to mark or cover with flecks; speckle

Origin of fleck

1
C16: probably from Old Norse flekkr stain, spot; related to Old High German flec spot, plot of land

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012