speck
Americannoun
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specks
plural
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a small spot differing in color or substance from that of the surface or material upon which it appears or lies.
Specks of soot on the window sill.
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a very little bit or particle.
We haven't a speck of sugar.
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something appearing small by comparison or by reason of distance.
By then the town was just a speck.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a very small mark or spot
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a small or tiny piece of something
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of speck
before 900; Middle English specke, Old English specca; cognate with Dutch spikkel
Explanation
A speck is a tiny patch or spot. At night, the stars look like glittering specks against the sky. And when you look up at the night sky, you might feel like a mere speck in the universe. A speck is a bit of color or light, or a very slight amount of something: "I'd like my eggs with lots of salt and just a speck of pepper." If you're extremely tidy, discovering specks of sand on your jeans after a walk on the beach might prompt you to change your clothes. Speck can be traced back to the Old English specca, "small spot or stain," but beyond that its origin remains a mystery.
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:
As I wrote years ago, the individual investor has always been “at the very bottom of the food chain, a speck of plankton afloat in a sea of predators.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
A new image captured on June 13, 2026, shows the rover as a tiny green speck against the Martian landscape, just one day before it officially reached the distance milestone.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
The speck was at Scarborough Shoal, a much-contested reef in the South China Sea, a maritime thoroughfare for about a quarter of the world’s seaborne trade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
But it serves as an unwitting rebuke to Chávez’s ultimate place in L.A. — a speck in a rich tapestry that was around before him and will exist long after.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
It’s just a speck at first, but as we draw closer, it resolves into a post protruding from the water.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
"We are tiny little specks in a huge vast area of nothingness," says Andrew.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
Rendered with atomic specks of red, blue and green that produce a darker purplish cast, its resonant effect is reinforced in the painted border Seurat added later, as he did to many of his seascapes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
A bottle of Ice Age glacial water from the Czech mountains contains dazzling specks of 24‑carat gold.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
Actually, he arrived at Flushing Meadows with no hairdo — as in no hair at all, aside from some teeny, tiny specks on his head that come to a widow’s peak.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2025
The afternoon light slanted down through the high windows, so that up close to the ceiling the air was flecked with glowing gold specks.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
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