freckle
Americannoun
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freckles
plural
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one of the small, brownish spots on the skin that are caused by deposition of pigment and that increase in number and darken on exposure to sunlight; lentigo.
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any small spot or discoloration.
freckles of paint spattered on the floor.
verb (used with object)
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freckles,
present (3rd person singular)
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freckled,
past participle, past
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freckling
present participle
verb (used without object)
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freckles,
present (3rd person singular)
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freckled,
past participle, past
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freckling
present participle
noun
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Technical name: lentigo. a small brownish spot on the skin: a localized deposit of the pigment melanin, developed by exposure to sunlight
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any small area of discoloration; a spot
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slang the anus
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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frecklesimple
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frecklessimple
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have freckledperfect
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has freckledperfect
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am frecklingprogressive
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are frecklingprogressive
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is frecklingprogressive
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have been frecklingperfect progressive
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has been frecklingperfect progressive
Past
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freckledsimple
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had freckledperfect
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was frecklingprogressive
-
were frecklingprogressive
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had been frecklingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of freckle
1350–1400; blend of obsolete frecken freckle ( Middle English frekne < Old Norse *frekna; compare freknōttr speckled, Norwegian, Icelandic frekna, Swedish fräkna freckle) and speckle (noun)
Explanation
A freckle is a small, brownish spot on the skin. You might have a few freckles on your nose, or a lot of freckles across your shoulders and arms. Most babies don't have any freckles, but people who are genetically predisposed to them and spend time in the sun tend to get freckles as children. People with pale skin, and sometimes red hair, have a tendency to get freckles and are more vulnerable to the sun's UV rays. If you have freckles, you should definitely use sunblock. When new freckles appear, you can say that you freckle.
Vocabulary lists containing freckle
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:
With a flash of light, 2,000 photographs are taken of my body, in the hope of capturing every mark, freckle and mole to analyse for different skin cancers.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
I can feel the backs of my knees burn and I can see my otherwise monochrome shoulders freckle if I’m outside for a bit too long.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 8, 2023
These Polynesian islands — a freckle, invisible on many maps — make up the world's fourth smallest nation, population around 12,000 and a land size of ten square miles.
From Salon ● Dec. 3, 2022
To those who encounter this magical bird, not only is a wish granted, but a golden freckle, like a sparkly skin blemish, is also deposited somewhere on their faces.
From New York Times ● Sep. 9, 2022
Not that she could make out sea lions from this distance—the lone sailboat she could see wasn’t any bigger than her fingernail, so a sea lion would be like the size of a freckle.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
It's my freckles, I'm told, and having freckles puts me at higher risk of skin cancer.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
The biggest risk factors for melanoma turn out to be genetic: having red hair, pale skin, freckles or moles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
You want freckles and edges that lean just shy of too dark.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2026
Gigi is her age, 21, with tanned skin, green eyes, freckles, winged eyeliner and long black hair.
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2025
We both had a slew of freckles, but her hair was more brown than red, and she didn’t have zits.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
The film’s aesthetic is bold and brash, featuring brilliantly hued red floors and walls designed to look like Cathy’s freckled skin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
Carolina Gelen’s beetroot focaccia is spring: shocking-pink dough rising on my counter, later freckled with crystalline shards of salt.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2025
Its shell is painted to resemble SpongeBob’s freckled face.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025
A fuzzy, freckled gull chick emerged from a bayberry bush, stared curiously at me as if it had spotted a Martian, and then waddled back to its hiding place.
From New York Times ● Sep. 20, 2023
"Tristran?" asked his father, who at five and thirty was still middling tall and still freckled, although there were more than a few silvering hairs in his nut-brown curls.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
Jupiter’s great red spot is visible at the 10 o’clock position; a freckling of white ovals—most distinct at eight and nine o’clock—likely indicate deep atmospheric storms.
From Time ● Oct. 25, 2017
It is a freckling of snow on cobbled pavements and the golden light from a window on a dark evening that glows like a Russian icon on a museum wall.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 8, 2017
Holocaust Memorial Museum stretched halfway down the block Wednesday, raindrops freckling the sidewalk, as Barbara Conroy and her teenage granddaughter, Molly Giguiere, inched toward the doors.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 12, 2017
“Look at this airport, built by Arabs!” he exclaims as the family disembarks in Tripoli, ignoring the cigarette butts freckling the ground.
From New York Times ● Oct. 19, 2016
For once I was glad of the privacy of the deep sunbonnet that Mother made me wear to prevent freckling.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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.
