dappling

verb

Definition of dapplingnext
present participle of dapple
as in sprinkling
to mark with small spots especially unevenly sunlight dappled the canopy of vines over our heads

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Browse Nearby Words

dapples
dappling
dare
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Dappling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dappling. Accessed 21 May. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Using Bullet Points ( • )

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Homophones, Homographs, and Homonyms

Words You Always Have to Look Up

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

10 Hella Good U.S. Regionalisms

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

Birds Say the Darndest Things
See More

Popular

See More

Using Bullet Points ( • )

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

10 Hella Good U.S. Regionalisms
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
banana-mirrored
Contradictory Words Quiz Pick out which word means one thing…and the opp...
See All