fleck
Americannoun
-
a speck; a small bit.
a fleck of dirt.
-
a spot or small patch of color, light, etc..
the dapple mare with flecks of gray.
-
a spot or mark on the skin, as a freckle.
verb (used with object)
-
flecks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
flecked,
past participle, past
-
flecking
present participle
noun
-
a small marking or streak; speckle
-
a small particle; speck
a fleck of dust
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
flecksimple
-
fleckssimple
-
have fleckedperfect
-
has fleckedperfect
-
am fleckingprogressive
-
are fleckingprogressive
-
is fleckingprogressive
-
have been fleckingperfect progressive
-
has been fleckingperfect progressive
Past
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fleckedsimple
-
had fleckedperfect
-
was fleckingprogressive
-
were fleckingprogressive
-
had been fleckingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fleck
1350–1400; Middle English flekked spotted; akin to Old Norse flekkr spot, streak, Old High German flec ( German Fleck ), Middle Low German, Middle Dutch vlecken to soil
Explanation
A fleck is a small patch that is different and stands out from the background, like the flecks of green in your blue eyes. A fleck can also be a fragment of something, like the flecks of peeling paint you might see on the floor in an old building. The noun fleck can describe a color or a spot of light that stands out, like a fleck of orange in a brown and white plaid, or the little bits of light reflected off a sequined top. It can also describe a particle, such as a fleck of dirt you track into your house on your shoe. Fleck can also be a verb that means dotting or marking something with little spots, like when you fleck paint on the wall to produce a random dotted effect.
Vocabulary lists containing fleck
The House on Mango Street
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Number the Stars
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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:
A nanoparticle is a fleck of material ranging in size approximately between 1 and 100 nanometers.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 30, 2024
Mercifully just south of the Atlantic's Hurricane Alley, Trinidad appears on the map like a small fleck of land that has been chipped off the coast of Venezuela.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2023
The Scottish musician, who specializes in pop treacle, is foulmouthed the way a young child is — cheekily and cuddly, without a fleck of harm.
From New York Times ● May 6, 2023
When they dialed the pressure back up to as little as 0.3 gigapascals, the blue fleck turned pink as the electrical resistance plunged to zero.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 8, 2023
When he raised it again and looked, the wizard was gone, and the sail of the boat was a white fleck on the waves eastward, heading towards the fat bejeweled islands of the inner seas.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Oversized disco balls hung overhead, casting flecks of light onto the couches, which were shaped like the brand’s beloved Texas toast.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
The nonstick pan that’s shedding black flecks into your eggs?
From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2026
Bone Sine in Portland, Ore., flecks its mix of nuts and chana dal with ground lime leaves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
A real pan with flecks of red is at her feet, and his painted legs are upended into the real fridge-freezer that Banksy left by the wall.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2025
He saw white flecks of spittle on Bartholomew’s red lips.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
Then come the chips: hot, sturdy, generously salted, piled into black woven baskets alongside ramekins of fire-engine-red mild salsa and a darker, spicier version flecked with onion and jalapeño.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
The standard sea of matte-pastel water bottles is starting to be flecked with shiny takes from Australia’s Frank Green.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
I bought a tub of amatriciana, flecked with visible hunks of guanciale and red pepper flakes, and a box of rigatoni.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
Slender but flecked with magical touches, “Romería” is so gentle it never quite qualifies as haunting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
A cabled sweater the same flecked gray of her eyes is too large for her, the sleeves coming partway up her hands.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
In person, Slaiby — his hair cropped high, gray hairs flecking his beard — is all business.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2022
Basinski began digitising the old tape loops, but bits of the tape’s metal surface starting flecking off.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 10, 2019
For starters, the police and all they survey in their bleak precinct are in desperate straits, even down to the paint flecking off the station house’s walls.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 7, 2013
Last week, with gold flecking the trees and black flecking the skies, the Terre Haute Crow Patrol mustered once again.
From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2011
Vali’s human shape fell from him, and where Vali had stood was a wolf, foam flecking its muzzle.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
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.
