swatch
Americannoun
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a sample of cloth or other material.
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a sample, patch, or characteristic specimen of anything.
noun
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a sample of cloth
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a number of such samples, usually fastened together in book form
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printing
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a small sample of colour supplied to the printer for matching during printing
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a sample of ink spread on paper by a printer to check the accuracy of a required colour
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Etymology
Origin of swatch
First recorded in 1505–15; akin to switch
Explanation
A swatch is a small piece of fabric that's used as a sample. If you're considering buying a purple velvet couch, you can order a swatch to see if it's really going to match your living room rug. A swatch is useful because it gives you an idea of what something larger—like curtains, a dress, or an upholstered piece of furniture—will look like. Sometimes swatch is also used for samples of other things, like paint colors or makeup. Swatch comes from 16th-century Scots, in which it was used to mean "a tally fixed to a piece of cloth before dyeing."
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.
The boss of Swatch has defended the launch of its collaboration with Audemars Piguet after shops in cities around the world saw disruption when large crowds attempted to buy its new pocket watch.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
Swatch also closed stores in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Glasgow and London over safety concerns, with social media video showing big queues and scuffles in other stores internationally.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
Swatch has been under pressure from activist investors, who say the company hasn’t done enough to counter weak sales in China and a drop in demand for its high-end offerings.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026
Product launch controversy is becoming something of a Swatch playbook.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026
She had bobbed blond hair and hard, curled bangs, and she was the only kid in school with a Swatch.
From "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell
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.
