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dot

[ dot ]

/ dɒt /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR dot ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a 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 window sill.

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.

verb (used with object), dot·ted, dot·ting.

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.

Cookery. to sprinkle with dabs of butter, margarine, or the like: Dot the filling with butter.

verb (used without object), dot·ted, dot·ting.

to make a dot or dots.

QUIZZES

TAKE ROUND 2 OF OUR PSAT VOCABULARY QUIZ!

Here is our second set of teacher-selected PSAT vocabulary words. Do you know the meanings of these terms?

Question 1 of 10

advocate

to give up possession or occupancy of.

to speak or write in favor of; support or urge by argument; recommend publicly.

to pronounce or decree by judicial sentence.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms for 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

before 1000; perhaps to be identified with Old English dott head of a boil, though not attested in Middle English; cf. dottle, dit, derivative of Old English dyttan to stop up (probably derivative of dott); cognate with Old High German tutta nipple

OTHER WORDS FROM dot

dot·like, adjectivedot·ter, noun

Words nearby dot

dossier, dossil, dost, dostoevsky, dostoyevsky, feodor, dot, dot ball, dot etching, dot matrix, dot product, dot the i's and cross the t's

Definition for dot (2 of 4)

dot²

[ dot, dawt ]

/ dɒt, dɔt /

noun Civil Law.

dowry(def 1).

Origin of dot

1850–55; < French < Latin dōtem, accusative of dōs dowry, akin to dāre to give

OTHER WORDS FROM dot

do·tal

[doht-l] /ˈdoʊt l/, adjective

Definition for dot (3 of 4)

Dot

[ dot ]

/ dɒt /

noun

a female given name, form of Dorothea and Dorothy.

Definition for dot (4 of 4)

DOT

Department of Transportation.

Dictionary of Occupational Titles.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for dot

Griffin mined the portfolios of four artists to create the vast collection of images that dot the book.
A YA Novel About a Warhol Girl With Banksy Talent|Hugh Ryan|August 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That question is being raised again in light of previously unseen chat logs uncovered by Motherboard and the Daily Dot.
How an FBI Informant Orchestrated LulzSec’s Hacking Spree|Joshua Kopstein|June 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Then after 9/11 and the Dot Com Crash, the money for a lot of the tech consulting she was doing in New York City dried up.
Inside the Cult of CrossFit|William O’Connor|May 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A circle with a dot may be “3” on the keypad, while an arrow could be “9.”
How to Use Your Lunch Hour for Better Productivity, Without Ever Taking a Bite|Gregory Ferenstein|April 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST

To send suggestions for future editions, email david (dot) sessions (at) thedailybeast (dot) com.
The Daily Beast’s Best Longreads, March 1, 2013||March 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The recording point will in this manner be gently pressed against the glass plate, marking the dot, and then gradually set free.
Life Movements in Plants|Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose
Dot herself hated working the pump—it blistered her little hands.
An Australian Lassie|Lilian Turner
In the diagrams of the meta-compounds the dot becomes a heart, in order to show the resultants of the lines of force.
Occult Chemistry|Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater
And Dot leaned on his crutches and looked round with bright wide-open eyes.
Esther|Rosa Nouchette Carey
Dot looked up at her friends when she heard this and shook her head energetically.
The Blue Birds' Winter Nest|Lillian Elizabeth Roy

British Dictionary definitions for dot (1 of 2)

dot¹

/ (dɒt) /

noun

a small round mark made with or as with a pen, etc; spot; speck; point

anything resembling a dot; a small amounta 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 codesCompare dit

the year dot informal as long ago as can be remembered

on the dot at exactly the arranged time

verb dots, dotting or dotted

(tr) to mark or form with a dotto 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

Derived forms of dot

dotter, noun

Word Origin for dot

Old English dott head of a boil; related to Old High German tutta nipple, Norwegian dott, Dutch dott lump

British Dictionary definitions for dot (2 of 2)

dot²

/ (dɒt) /

noun

civil law a woman's dowry

Derived forms of dot

dotal (ˈdəʊtəl), adjective

Word Origin for dot

C19: from French, from Latin dōs; related to dōtāre to endow, dāre to give

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

Medical definitions for dot

dot

[ dŏt ]

n.

A tiny round mark made by or as if by a pointed instrument; a spot.

Scientific definitions for dot

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.

Idioms and Phrases with dot

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

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dot

noun

verb (used with object), dot·ted, dot·ting.

verb (used without object), dot·ted, dot·ting.