Library / English Dictionary

SPECKLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small contrasting part of something

Example:

a fleck of red

Synonyms:

dapple; fleck; maculation; patch; speckle; spot

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("speckle" is a kind of...):

marking (a pattern of marks)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speckle"):

pinpoint; speck (a very small spot)

nebula ((pathology) a faint cloudy spot on the cornea)

splash (a patch of bright color)

fret; worn spot (a spot that has been worn away by abrasion or erosion)

plaque ((pathology) a small abnormal patch on or inside the body)

macula; macule (a patch of skin that is discolored but not usually elevated; caused by various diseases)

mock sun; parhelion; sundog (a bright spot on the parhelic circle; caused by diffraction by ice crystals)

macula; sunspot (a cooler darker spot appearing periodically on the sun's photosphere; associated with a strong magnetic field)

facula; solar facula (a large bright spot on the sun's photosphere occurring most frequently in the vicinity of sunspots)

facula (a bright spot on a planet)

Derivation:

speckle (mark with small spots)

speckle (produce a mottled effect)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Mark with small spots

Example:

speckle the wall with tiny yellow spots

Synonyms:

bespeckle; speckle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "speckle" is one way to...):

blob; blot; fleck; spot (make a spot or mark onto)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

speckle (a small contrasting part of something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Produce a mottled effect

Example:

The sunlight stippled the trees

Synonyms:

speckle; stipple

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "speckle" is one way to...):

cloud; dapple; mottle (colour with streaks or blotches of different shades)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

speckle (a small contrasting part of something)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The blue speckled is with or without black, blue or tan markings on the head with tan points.

(Australian Cattle Dog, NCI Thesaurus)

Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band—a speckled band?

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The English Setter is a slim setter with a speckled coat.

(English Setter, NCI Thesaurus)

Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his head.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The speckled band!’ There was something else which she would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the air in the direction of the Doctor’s room, but a fresh convulsion seized her and choked her words.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)