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
-
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:
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
“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
My mother says each time a bubble burst on my face, it made a freckle.
From "Fourth Grade Rats" by Jerry Spinelli
But I've also learned a valuable lesson - that I could be more at risk of skin cancer because of my freckles.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Families with pale skin, freckles or a history of skin cancer should be extra careful.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
You want freckles and edges that lean just shy of too dark.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2026
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
Her light brown skin had more freckles over her nose.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
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
But the glow of the freckled, big-eyed actor who so memorably played Marion Ravenwood has only grown stronger over time.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 1, 2023
Although he’s typically iced out with a diamond-encrusted Spiderman chain and engulfed by designer jackets, today the MC is simply dressed in black T-shirt and jeans, emphasizing his fair, freckled skin and shaggy brown mullet.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2023
A freckled boy standing in the back crossed his arms.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
The bacon on the Cowboy is crumbled to fine pebbles — freckling the surface of the pie rather than screaming “BACON,” on top of sausage.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 8, 2022
Stray words float by in a river of frontier gibberish: “Frawder thur prueless rare shur per thurst. Mirtler freckling thow.”
From New York Times ● May 2, 2018
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
“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.
