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:
From a distance, Smith saw what looked like steam or smoke rising from a speck in the water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 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
A slight misalignment, or even a speck of oil from the technician’s hands, and the strands won’t join.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 1, 2026
Surely, there has got to be some speck of humanity here, some microcosmic pocket of life detectable amid her robotic demeanor and Ratner’s styleless direction.
From Salon ● Feb. 1, 2026
Mr. Nancy stubbed out his cigarillo, then he flicked an imaginary speck of ash off his yellow gloves.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
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
In Sydney's historic Rocks precinct, a cobblestoned alleyway has been transformed into a winter wonderland for two weeks of Christmas in July markets, complete with fake snow machines churning specks of foam onto passersby.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2025
The Pensieve was sitting on the desk again, casting silvery specks of light over the ceiling.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
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.
