divot
Americannoun
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Golf. a piece of turf gouged out with a club in making a stroke.
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Scot. a piece of turf.
noun
Etymology
Origin of divot
1530–40; originally Scots, earlier deva ( i ) t, diffat, duvat, of obscure origin
Explanation
A divot is a little chunk of grass or turf that gets dug out of the ground. Playing golf creates many divots. Have you ever seen a lawn that is perfectly maintained and smooth? That's a piece of ground without any divots. A divot is a little piece of the earth that flies up when something sharp hits it, like an animal's sharp hooves. The chunk of earth is a divot, and the cavity left behind is also called a divot. The cleats of football players and the powerful swings of golf players both result in divots.
Vocabulary lists containing divot
The Book of Unknown Americans
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Early Departures
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Goodbye Stranger
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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.
“I learned a long time ago, if there’s not a divot, the diameter decreases,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
But Farke could not definitively say if there was a rogue divot on the pitch which had cost his injury-hit side two crucial points at the Stadium of Light after an impressive display.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2024
The rifle’s extendable stock’s point—that is, the end of the butt nestled “high and tight” into the divot, or pocket, of the shoulder—provided a sturdy point of pressure.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2024
The female slowly rose inside the crate then bounded up a snowy divot in the dirt road.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
Calakmul's inhabitants had cut a little divot into its flanks for their city, but now the vegetation, massive and indifferent, was smothering every trace of their existence.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
