blob
Americannoun
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blobs
plural
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a globule of liquid; bubble.
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a small lump, drop, splotch, or daub.
A blob of paint marred the surface.
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an object, especially a large one, having no distinct shape or definition.
a blob on the horizon.
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a dull, slow-witted, and uninteresting person.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a soft mass or drop, as of some viscous liquid
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a spot, dab, or blotch of colour, ink, etc
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a indistinct or shapeless form or object
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a slang word for condom
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of blob
1400–50; late Middle English; apparently expressive formation
Explanation
A blob is a spot, drop, or a shapeless mass of something, You can't just put blobs of paint on your canvas and call it art! Blob is often used interchangeably with glob or drop. You might top your apple pie with blobs of whipped cream, or put a blob of toothpaste on your toothbrush. And if your map appears to be just blobs of color, you might want to put your glasses on and look again. Blob first appeared as a verb in the 15th century, meaning "to mark with drops or granules," a close relation of bubble.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Maybe the effort will amount to a lot of talk and the higher-education sector, as it’s terrifyingly known, will remain an expensive, unreformable blob.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
On climate maps, it appears as a strange blue smudge in a sea of red - the so-called cold blob.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Often called the "cold blob", this swath of water in the North Atlantic has bucked the global warming trend, cooling even as the planet's temperatures rise due to human-induced climate change.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
The blob was earth-toned and splashed bestselling covers for years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
“Every time I tried to draw the shark it looked like a blob, or a windup toy. So I started trying to fix it.”
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
Seen with the naked eye from the stern of our 40-foot tour boat, the dark blobs bobbing in the restless sea didn’t look like much.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Natural gas is used by glass manufacturers to run their furnaces, which melt sand, soda ash, limestone and recycled glass into molten glass blobs which are then shaped into bottles.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2026
My friends were skeptical as I placed the uneven, cinnamon-covered blobs in their palms.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2026
A team at Scripps Research found that some condensates are not random blobs at all.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 26, 2026
Our mill houses were a long sight better than in lots of places, but they looked more like repeating blobs of white than homes.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
Speaking of Wharton, I see even she has been blobbed!
From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2021
Admittedly, as that student blobbed into the man I am today, I do wonder if the sedentary Lister was the wisest role model to choose.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 21, 2017
Revelers blobbed together, migrating as Rio’s winter twilight slipped in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2016
He said three of the students had since asked "that their images be taken out" and that they would be "pixelated or blobbed".
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2013
He blobbed on the paint, working spasmodically, and occasionally he refreshed himself at the piano with a verse of the latest popular song.
From In Friendship's Guise by William Murray Graydon
Dr. Ding, who studies blobbing in the much-studied nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, described her C. elegans blobs as “strongly overlapping, like a bowl of spaghetti noodles.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 25, 2021
Maisie suggested painting and I started blobbing out pretty colours.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 31, 2017
Beside her on each side, both Ess and Loo were already scribbling and blobbing ink all over their stones.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
