speckle
Americannoun
-
a small speck, spot, or mark, as on skin.
-
speckled coloring or marking.
verb (used with object)
-
speckles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
speckled,
past participle, past
-
speckling
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
specklesimple
-
specklessimple
-
have speckledperfect
-
has speckledperfect
-
am specklingprogressive
-
are specklingprogressive
-
is specklingprogressive
-
have been specklingperfect progressive
-
has been specklingperfect progressive
Past
-
speckledsimple
-
had speckledperfect
-
was specklingprogressive
-
were specklingprogressive
-
had been specklingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of speckle
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at speck, -le
Explanation
A speckle is a dot or dash of something — you might think you've painted the living room without spilling any paint, only to find a speckle of purple in the middle of the rug. Young children pouring their own cereal often leave a speckle of milk on the counter no matter how careful they are. You can also use speckle as a verb meaning "to scatter" or "to dot." For example, you could describe the black spots that speckle your cat, or talk about the stars that speckle the sky. Speckle most likely comes from the Old English word specca, "small spot or speck."
Vocabulary lists containing speckle
Unit 1: Telling Details
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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Bridge to Terabithia
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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:
Managing speckle is somewhat similar to managing cloud cover.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 10, 2024
But instead of seeking to speckle them with familiar, Earthly worlds, we can give in to the alienation and embrace the loneliness, let it transmute into a new kind of awe.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2022
As cancellations increasingly speckle a busy fall concert calendar, the team behind Day In Day Out, Seattle’s first major music festival since the pandemic, was dealt a last-minute blow.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 2, 2021
It is restless and searching, continually morphing in shape, an abstract paintbrush swoosh one moment, a speckle of raindrops the next.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2020
The sky above them was stormy, and as they sailed closer, rain began to speckle the surface of the sea.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
This organization gives rise to unique pH profiles within nucleoli, which they measured and compared with the pH of nearby non-nucleolar condensates including nuclear speckles and Cajal bodies.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 18, 2024
People in the stands held their phones up, creating a sea of star-like speckles in the crowd.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2023
They lose their brightness in the oven, leaving drab streaks instead of bright rainbow speckles.
From New York Times ● Jun. 10, 2023
Others showed mere speckles of damage visible among streaks of healthy, red-stained cells.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 27, 2023
They’re made of wide, rough boards with cracks in between, gray with plaster dust and scattered with white speckles, like bird droppings.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
There was bracing Pep-O-Mint, cool Wint-O-Green, sharp Spear-O-Mint, clear Crysto Mint and festive Stik-O-Pep, speckled red and white like a candy cane.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
For decades, L.A.’s hazy blue days and golden pink dusks have given way to nights speckled with golden orange, where amber streetlights twinkle across hills, valleys and coastal plain like stars in the sky.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
The signature speckled edges and thumb indexes are preserved, helping to make the volume self-consciously display-friendly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
In his larger home – with patios and several rooms – a group of speckled hens fights for rooftop space between the solar panels.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2025
Bright limes and lemons and speckled oranges for juicing.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
Diversified operates just a fraction of the wells speckling Appalachia, home to two of America’s most prolific shale formations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
Such graffiti, once speckling the city, has all but disappeared in Bukele’s efforts to erase any trace of the gangs.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 22, 2023
Soon after European astronomers developed the first telescopes at the start of the 17th century, they observed dark spots speckling the Sun’s surface.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 9, 2022
The chopped leaves are mixed in later, wilting in the broth and speckling the rice with bits of green.
From New York Times ● Apr. 22, 2022
Three days after we got there I answered the front door knocker and there stood Karel, coal dust from the train trip still speckling his shoulders.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
