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
-
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
-
freckledsimple
-
had freckledperfect
-
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:
“The doctor was looking at each freckle with a magnifying glass,” she wrote.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 14, 2024
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
I’m pretty sure I’d be happy devoting the rest of my life to kissing each and every Ben freckle.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
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
As a teenager, she was self-conscious about her freckles and found it hard to please her glamorous parents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
By the 1920s, a few freckles and a well-placed tan line would probably mean you had moved up a social class or two, and suggested health, wealth and luxurious holidays.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2025
She’d even drawn Magic Marker freckles onto her pale skin.
From "I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980" by Lauren Tarshis
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
There’s a creamy baked potato soup, pale and plush, freckled with salty bacon.
From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2026
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
I rub the freckled constellation birthmark on his left thumb.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
Mr. Arbery’s case has reflected the conflicting currents that have long coursed through Glynn County, situated in what’s known as the Golden Isles freckling the Georgia coast between Savannah and Jacksonville.
From New York Times ● May 10, 2020
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
“Decent food. The Internet. I don’t miss the sun that much. At least I’m not freckling anymore. What about you?”
From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
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.
