blotch

[ bloch ]

/ blɒtʃ /

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See synonyms for: blotch / blotched / blotching on Thesaurus.com

noun

a large, irregular spot or blot.

Plant Pathology.

a diseased, discolored spot or area on a plant.
a disease so characterized, usually accompanied by cankers and lesions.

a skin eruption; blemish.

verb (used with object)

to mark with blotches; blot, spot, or blur: The floor of the forest was blotched with cool, dark moss.

adjective

Textiles. of or relating to blotch printing, or to the colored ground produced by this process.

OTHER WORDS FOR blotch

1 splotch, mark, blemish, stain.

See synonyms for blotch on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of blotch

1595–1605; perhaps blend of blot¹ + botch²

Words nearby blotch

blossom, blossom-end rot, blossom into, blot, blot analysis, blotch, blotch printing, blotchy, blot out, blotter, blotting paper

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use blotch in a sentence

Observations of distant galaxies showed them flying apart from each other, suggesting the current cosmos to be just the adult phase of a universe born long ago in the burst of a tiny blotch of energy.
A century ago, Alexander Friedmann envisioned the universe’s expansion|Tom Siegfried|May 20, 2022|Science News
An x-ray revealed “blotches” on his lungs, and he was kept at the hospital for 10 hours to increase his oxygen levels, The Times reported.
Gold medalist Tom Daley battled COVID in hospital prior to Tokyo games|Staff reports|October 2, 2021|Washington Blade
Meanwhile, females are much less flashy with a greenish or floury brown hide peppered with deeper blotches.
This rainbow-scaled lizard lived anonymously in the Andes—until now|Grace Wade|September 6, 2021|Popular-Science
One variety for cutting, known as "cinnamon blotch," is a leaf of good body and is considered an excellent tobacco for chewing.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.

There was indeed a blotch on one of the negatives, which I was assured was a spirit.
Mystic London:|Charles Maurice Davies
It came out a scraggy blotch of white paint, with its black eyes glaring like two great glass beads!
Martin Rattler|R.M. Ballantyne
Looking round he saw the pale blotch of her face down in the darkness under the hanging tree.
Sons and Lovers|David Herbert Lawrence
The furnaces flared in a red blotch over Bulwell; the black clouds were like a low ceiling.
Sons and Lovers|David Herbert Lawrence

British Dictionary definitions for blotch

blotch

/ (blɒtʃ) /

noun

an irregular spot or discoloration, esp a dark and relatively large one such as an ink stain

verb

to become or cause to become marked by such discoloration

(intr) (of a pen or ink) to write or flow unevenly in blotches

Word Origin for blotch

C17: probably from botch, influenced by blot 1

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