fleck
Americannoun
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a speck; a small bit.
a fleck of dirt.
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a spot or small patch of color, light, etc..
the dapple mare with flecks of gray.
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a spot or mark on the skin, as a freckle.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a small marking or streak; speckle
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a small particle; speck
a fleck of dust
verb
Other Word Forms
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.
A nanoparticle is a fleck of material ranging in size approximately between 1 and 100 nanometers.
From Science Daily • Apr. 30, 2024
For full-spectrum flavor, you could also include a pinch of sumac for sourness, a fleck of crushed dried seaweed for savoriness and a dash of poppy seeds for sweet nuttiness.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 15, 2023
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
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
A few scrapes, some mud, and a fleck of Crispy Cheese ’n’ Wiener, but no tattoos.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
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.
