dapple
Americannoun
-
a spot or mottled marking, usually occurring in clusters.
-
an animal with a mottled skin or coat.
adjective
verb (used with or without object)
verb
noun
-
mottled or spotted markings
-
a dappled horse, etc
adjective
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dapplesimple
-
dapplessimple
-
have dappledperfect
-
has dappledperfect
-
am dapplingprogressive
-
are dapplingprogressive
-
is dapplingprogressive
-
have been dapplingperfect progressive
-
has been dapplingperfect progressive
Past
-
dappledsimple
-
had dappledperfect
-
was dapplingprogressive
-
were dapplingprogressive
-
had been dapplingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dapple
First recorded in 1545–55; probably back formation from dappled
Explanation
To dapple is to dot with blotches of color or light, the way sunlight dapples the leaves of trees in the summertime. You can use dapple as a verb or a noun: "I saw a dapple of yellow paint on the floor after I finished painting my bedroom wall." Writers often describe the way sunshine and moonlight dapple things, forming irregular spots and patches. Sometimes animal fur or skin is described as dappled, or a color such as dapple-gray, an adjective which—strangely enough—was originally apple-gray.
Vocabulary lists containing dapple
Much Ado About Nothing
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The Cuckoo's Calling
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Into the Wild
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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:
Every time he touches her, the rest of the world seems to disappear: The focus goes shallow, the fine hairs on Brie’s skin dapple in the light, her muscles creak as loudly as tectonic plates.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2025
The rescued tree, says the 48-year-old Furlanetto, “became part of the architecture,” casting shadows through a skylight that dapple the internal concrete ramp for which the project was named.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2024
So when the rain comes, it doesn't just dapple us with light sprinkles, it drops the heavier load of moisture that has been accumulating for a longer time.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2023
Gleaming spots caused by methane ice clouds in the planet's atmosphere dapple its lower half.
From Scientific American ● Dec. 20, 2022
She found Strong Belwas eating grapes, as Barristan Selmy watched a stableboy cinch the girth on his dapple grey.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Does your manic pixie dream girl complex fantasize about an ethereal-looking stranger mesmerized in reverie as they gaze upon the dapples of fluorescent Tom Bradley terminal lights reflecting off this sumptuously swamp-hued fabric?
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
More open compositions such as “Inlet” neatly mirror sky and water, but Dellario seems most at home under tree cover, where light dapples rather than glares.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 26, 2022
The female is so dark I thought she was the male until early morning light picked out the faintest dapples on her breast.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 13, 2020
It sets apart the mansion, reveals its layered additions, dapples the Frick in shade.
From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2014
As she reaches for it, she watches the way the light slips through the heavy pine needles, dapples everything with sweet September light .
From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson
They would remain there, amid the dunes and dappled sunlight of Cape Cod’s hooked terminus, until Cook’s death in 2004.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Trees along the street offered dappled shade, and there were several other cute restaurants nearby, many with outdoor spaces of their own.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
The special habitat's twisted branches, dappled light and moss-covered understorey once covered much of the country, but is now only found in isolated areas including the Woodland Trust's Coed Felenrhyd near Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd.
From BBC ● May 18, 2025
Sunlight dappled the graves under a towering magnolia tree during the flag-planting ceremony on Feb. 14.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 29, 2024
Like most hearts, it was complicated, shaded with dark and dappled with light.
From "The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread" by Kate DiCamillo
When you assemble the dessert into bowls and start dappling each island with caramel and toasted sliced almonds, your friends will begin to hover.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
As you sit in meditation on a wooden bench, the sunlight dappling across your face, life’s chaos exists just a hundred steps away on the other side of the temple walls.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
"Wouldn't it be useful for English speakers to have a specific word for sunlight dappling through leaves... Or a word for the action of sitting outside enjoying a beer?"
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2025
I stepped through the door, surveying the late-summer light dappling the antique wood floors.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2024
We saw three or four does and the albino stag flash through the trees ahead, sunlight dappling their flanks.
From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
