pockmark

[pok-mahrk]

noun

1. Usually pockmarks. scars or pits left by a pustule in smallpox or the like.

2. a small pit or scar.

   a tabletop full of pockmarks.

verb (used with object)

1. to mark or scar with or as with pockmarks.

   gopher holes pockmarking the field.

pockmark

/ ˈpɒkˌmɑːk /

noun

1. Also called: pock. a pitted scar left on the skin after the healing of a smallpox or similar pustule

2. any pitting of a surface that resembles or suggests such scars

verb

1. (tr) to scar or pit (a surface) with pockmarks

Other Word Forms

• pockmarked adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pockmark¹

First recorded in 1665–75; pock + mark ¹

Example Sentences

The smart shops and restaurants running down to the beach are now pockmarked with shrapnel and bullet holes, the park with its French-manicured trees, is buried under grey rubble.

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After 23 months of war, it now lies in ruins, pockmarked by craters, with burned-out wards and bullet holes.

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A small, wiry, pockmarked young man with curly hair and a hard-to-place accent, he loitered in the area for hours, asking kitchen workers if his target would be coming that way.

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At the Saraya home in Sweida, signs of the violence are everywhere — walls pockmarked by shrapnel from a hand grenade and family pictures and mirrors cracked by bullet holes.

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And not even in the federal government in Washington, where the streets are now pockmarked from tanks and military vehicles.

Read more on Salon