blotch

American  

[bloch] / blɒtʃ /

noun

1. a large, irregular spot or blot.

   Synonyms:

   stain, blemish, mark, splotch

2. Plant Pathology.

   1. a diseased, discolored spot or area on a plant.

   2. a disease so characterized, usually accompanied by cankers and lesions.

3. a skin eruption; blemish.

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verb (used with object)

blotches, present (3rd person singular) blotched, past participle, past blotching present participle

1. to mark with blotches; blot, spot, or blur.

   The floor of the forest was blotched with cool, dark moss.

adjective

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

blotch British  

/ blɒtʃ /

noun

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

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verb

1. to become or cause to become marked by such discoloration

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

blotch Scientific  

/ blŏch /

1. Any of several plant diseases caused by fungi and resulting in brown or black dead areas on leaves or fruit.

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• blotching
  present
• blotched
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• blotch
  simple
• blotches
  simple
• have blotched
  perfect
• has blotched
  perfect
• am blotching
  progressive
• are blotching
  progressive
• is blotching
  progressive
• have been blotching
  perfect progressive
• has been blotching
  perfect progressive

Past

• blotched
  simple
• had blotched
  perfect
• was blotching
  progressive
• were blotching
  progressive
• had been blotching
  perfect progressive

Future

• will blotch
  simple
• will have blotched
  perfect
• will be blotching
  progressive
• will have been blotching
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of blotch

1595–1605; perhaps blend of blot ¹ + botch ²

Explanation

A blotch is an uneven spot or blemish, like the itchy blotches you get all over your arms after tangling with the poison ivy in your back yard. Etymologists guess that blotch comes from blot, "spot or stain," influenced by patch — so you can think of a blotch as a patchy stain. The word is frequently used to describe skin that's discolored, like the blotches you get on your cheeks after crying, or the painful blotch on your back where you forgot to apply sunblock. Use it as a verb, too: "The ketchup squirted from his hamburger and blotched his new white shirt."

Example Sentences

Her zapping turns her entire head of hair — not just a streak — shocking white à la Jean Harlow, and leaves an oddly-appealing black blotch on her cheek.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 4, 2026

I also had a little red blotch of skin, but as I said, my thighs rub together, so maybe it was nothing?

From Slate • Mar. 13, 2024

But Otte held them to four runs, with just a three-run fifth by Kennewick a major blotch on the right-hander’s night.

From Seattle Times • May 28, 2022

“You can’t squirt a polar bear with a blotch of paint,” Laidre says.

From New York Times • Feb. 15, 2022

Gum doesn’t blotch the sidewalks, it doesn't smell like pee, and there aren’t areas to avoid once the sun sets.

From "The House That Lou Built" by Mae Respicio

Related Words

• blemish
• blot