blotch

[bloch]

See more synonyms for blotch on Thesaurus.com

noun

a large, irregular spot or blot.
Plant Pathology.
1. a diseased, discolored spot or area on a plant.
2. 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.

Origin of blotch

1595–1605; perhaps blend of blot¹ + botch²

Synonyms for blotch

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1. splotch, mark, blemish, stain.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for blotch

blot, blemish, eruption, spot, patch, splash, breakout, stigma, stain, mark, acne

Examples from the Web for blotch

Historical Examples of blotch

The lighthouse was a white dot and the fish shanties a blotch of brown.
Keziah Coffin
Joseph C. Lincoln
The month was April, and the day was blithe, with no blotch in the sky.
The Jucklins
Opie Read
There was indeed a blotch on one of the negatives, which I was assured was a spirit.
Mystic London:
Charles Maurice Davies
With all the writer's care, however, he had not been able to avoid a blotch.
The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson
Samuel Smiles
Mr. Blotch remained in the engine room throughout the journey.
Local Color
Irvin S. Cobb

British Dictionary definitions for blotch

blotch

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

Word Origin and History for blotch

c.1600, perhaps a blend of blot and botch or patch.

blotch in Science

blotch

[blŏch]

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