flyspeck

noun

fly·​speck ˈflī-ˌspek How to pronounce flyspeck (audio)
1
: a speck made by fly excrement
2
: something small and insignificant
flyspeck transitive verb

Examples of flyspeck in a Sentence

She grew up in a flyspeck of a town. surreptitiously removed a flyspeck of dirt from the china
Recent Examples on the Web That’s a flyspeck in a galaxy that measures 100,000 light years across and a universe that is a staggering 94 billion light years. Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 21 Dec. 2022 Sooty blotch looks like a brown or black blotch on the fruit; sooty blotch, unlike flyspeck, will wipe off the fruit. Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 2 June 2022 Travelers jumping into the West Texas badlands from Mexico through Candelaria, a flyspeck village 50 miles up two-lane blacktop northwest of Presidio, might be deceived by the prevailing verdant quiet. Dudley Althaus, San Antonio Express-News, 26 June 2021 To those who grew up with Duncan in the U.S. Virgin Islands, their friend’s voyage from a picturesque flyspeck in the middle of the ocean to the basketball Hall of Fame was equal parts preordained and inconceivable. Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 14 May 2021 But with a thousand islands scattered along their country’s jade-green Adriatic coast, from deserted flyspecks to hipster outposts, there’s no shortage of places to lick one’s wounds—or bask in silver-medal glory. Anja Mutić, WSJ, 19 July 2018 Compared to this, Comcast is a flyspeck, and Charter hasn’t even gotten started. David Dayen, The New Republic, 30 Apr. 2018 Amid these forces, Fed rate hikes are a relative flyspeck, says Doug Duncan, chief economist of Fannie Mae. Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, 14 June 2017 For a mere flyspeck, Bogoslof Island has been causing quite a commotion recently. Henry Fountain, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2016

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flyspeck.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1723, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of flyspeck was in 1723

Dictionary Entries Near flyspeck

Cite this Entry

“Flyspeck.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flyspeck. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

flyspeck

noun
fly·​speck -ˌspek How to pronounce flyspeck (audio)
1
: a speck of waste matter of a fly
2
: something small and of little importance
flyspeck verb

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