dot
1a small, roundish mark made with or as if with a pen.
a minute or small spot on a surface; speck: There were dots of soot on the windowsill.
anything relatively small or specklike.
a small specimen, section, amount, or portion: a dot of butter.
a period, especially as used when pronouncing an internet address.
Music.
a point placed after a note or rest, to indicate that the duration of the note or rest is to be increased one half. A double dot further increases the duration by one half the value of the single dot.
a point placed under or over a note to indicate that it is to be played staccato.
Telegraphy. a signal of shorter duration than a dash, used in groups along with groups of dashes and spaces to represent letters, as in Morse code.
Printing. an individual element in a halftone reproduction.
to mark with or as if with a dot or dots.
to stud or diversify with or as if with dots: Trees dot the landscape.
to form or cover with dots: He dotted a line across the page.
Cooking. to sprinkle with dabs of butter, margarine, or the like: Dot the filling with butter.
to make a dot or dots.
Idioms about dot
dot one's i's and cross one's t's, to be meticulous or precise, even to the smallest detail.
on the dot, Informal. precisely; exactly at the time specified: The guests arrived at eight o'clock on the dot.
the year dot, British Informal. very long ago.
Origin of dot
1Other words from dot
- dotlike, adjective
- dotter, noun
Words Nearby dot
Other definitions for dot (2 of 4)
Origin of dot
2Other words from dot
- do·tal [doht-l], /ˈdoʊt l/, adjective
Other definitions for DOT (4 of 4)
damage over time: (in a video game) an attack that results in light or moderate damage when it is dealt, but that wounds or weakens the receiving character, who continues to lose health in small increments for a specified period of time, or until healed by a spell, potion, etc.
Dictionary of Occupational Titles: reference book formerly published by the Department of Labor with job titles, descriptions, and official classifications, discontinued in 1999 and replaced by the online Occupational Informational Network.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use dot in a sentence
You could be, but chances are, they aren’t watching your little green dot at all times.
‘It can take on a panopticon effect’: Slack’s presenteeism problem grows with no end in sight for remote work | Lucinda Southern | August 28, 2020 | DigidayThink of the colors assigned to the dots as coordinates which situate the dice in space.
Computer Search Settles 90-Year-Old Math Problem | Kevin Hartnett | August 19, 2020 | Quanta MagazineThe process works a little like “connect the dots,” in which the software learns how to accurately fill in the missing pieces of information between the data points generated by the scanner.
Facebook and NYU researchers discover a way to speed up MRI scans | Jeremy Kahn | August 18, 2020 | FortuneHover over each of the dots to see how the map shook out in that simulation.
How We Designed The Look Of Our 2020 Forecast | Anna Wiederkehr (anna.wiederkehr@abc.com) | August 13, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightSome also offer a chance to explore deeper by switching tabs or hovering on elements like dots or lines.
How We Designed The Look Of Our 2020 Forecast | Anna Wiederkehr (anna.wiederkehr@abc.com) | August 13, 2020 | FiveThirtyEight
Shrubs and small trees dot a parched landscape along the road from Turbat to the border.
The Dangerous Drug-Funded Secret War Between Iran and Pakistan | Umar Farooq | December 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAbove the notes of praise is a small photo of Guerin wearing a polka dot tie and pocket square, staring at you like a sociopath.
It was there, in small type, hosted on some dot-edu domain, looking the way websites did in the mid-1990s.
Picasso, with his polka-dot shirt and clashing tie attempted an air of bravado, but lost confidence by the minute.
He drew a series of concentric circles on a page with a single dot—Robert Moses—in the center.
‘The Power Broker’ Turns 40: How Robert Caro Wrote a Masterpiece | Scott Porch | September 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThough Caroline only brought with her a dot of forty thousand francs, she stood for what was better still, immense possibilities.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonA dot or two, sometimes only one, sometimes as many as five, are thrown in as a rough way of indicating the features.
Children's Ways | James SullyTypical "segmenters" present a ring of rounded segments or spores, each with a small, dot-like chromatin mass.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddAt three thousand yards a man appears as a mere dot, which is not readily distinguishable.
Outlines of the Earth's History | Nathaniel Southgate ShalerAll the way the scenery is pretty, but with no very striking features, and villas dot the roadside for a considerable distance.
The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries | Charles G. Harper
British Dictionary definitions for dot (1 of 2)
/ (dɒt) /
a small round mark made with or as with a pen, etc; spot; speck; point
anything resembling a dot; a small amount: a dot of paint
the mark (˙) that appears above the main stem of the letters i, j
music
the symbol (·) placed after a note or rest to increase its time value by half
this symbol written above or below a note indicating that it must be played or sung staccato
maths logic
the symbol (.) indicating multiplication or logical conjunction
a decimal point
the symbol (·) used, in combination with the symbol for dash (–), in the written representation of Morse and other telegraphic codes: Compare dit
the year dot informal as long ago as can be remembered
on the dot at exactly the arranged time
(tr) to mark or form with a dot: to dot a letter; a dotted crotchet
(tr) to scatter or intersperse (with dots or something resembling dots): bushes dotting the plain
(intr) to make a dot or dots
dot one's i's and cross one's t's to pay meticulous attention to detail
Origin of dot
1Derived forms of dot
- dotter, noun
British Dictionary definitions for dot (2 of 2)
/ (dɒt) /
civil law a woman's dowry
Origin of dot
2Derived forms of dot
- dotal (ˈdəʊtəl), adjective
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
Scientific definitions for dot
[ dŏt ]
A symbol (·) indicating multiplication, as in 2 · 4 = 8. It is used to indicate the dot product of vectors, for example A · B.
A period, as used as in URLs and e-mail addresses, to separate strings of words, as in www.hmco.com.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with dot
In addition to the idiom beginning with dot
- dot the i's and cross the t's
also see:
- on the dot
- sign on the dotted line
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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