as in blotch
a small area that is different (as in color) from the main part a tie having eyespots of blue on a light gray background

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of eyespot The great argus is an at-risk species with an elaborate pattern of eyespots on its tail feathers, according to Thai National Parks. Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 14 May 2025 Peacock butterflies are distinguished by a series of striking eyespots on their wings, which serve to threaten or confuse potential predators. Michael Franco, New Atlas, 21 Sep. 2024 But why did some lineages evolve shell eyes rather than eyespots? Quanta Magazine, 29 Feb. 2024 First, red eyespots appear; then the amorphous bodies coalesce and darken into their ferocious adult forms. Nala Rogers, Popular Mechanics, 9 Aug. 2023 Their long hindwing tails and eyespots combine to give them a look resembling an elephant’s face. Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 18 July 2023 First, Rowland and her co-author trained chicks to attack a mealworm hidden behind a paper printout of two eyespots at the end of a runway. Maddie Bender, Scientific American, 1 Jan. 2023 The 30-centimeter-long adult grows out of a larva that is little more than a sesame seed–size blob with an eyespot at one end and a band of cilia around its body. Byelizabeth Pennisi, science.org, 17 Jan. 2023 The eyespot is studded with light-sensitive proteins called channelrhodopsins. Marc Zimmer, The Conversation, 5 Aug. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for eyespot
Noun
  • This fungal disease causes yellow blotches on pumpkins, tomato leaves, squash and cucumbers.
    Clarence Schmidt, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Apr. 2025
  • The butterflies themselves are nearly gone, but the ink has left three blotches down her arm.
    Alyssa Goldberg, USA Today, 7 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • The Naugatuck train station is a small plexiglass box with a single bench, a lone dot in the expanse of the concrete parking lot, just across from the loading dock of a post office.
    Ginny Monk, Hartford Courant, 10 May 2025
  • The black dot on your iPhone after upgrading to iOS 18.4 is not a bug at all.
    Kate O'Flaherty, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025
Noun
  • Within the span of a few days, an innocuous speck can turn a loaf of bread from prime sandwich material into a hideous mass of blue-green fuzz—an appetite-killing sight if ever there was one.
    Caroline Tien, SELF, 1 May 2025
  • The dark speck near the bottom at the end of the line is Curiosity.
    Amanda Kooser, Forbes.com, 26 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • If the Twins hit a rough patch again, Lopez would be a prime candidate to improve a Mariners starting rotation that currently has the sixth-worst Wins Above Average among starting rotations at minus-0.6.
    Andrew Wright, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 May 2025
  • Soon after release, one more major lighting feature, Ray Reconstruction, will be added in a post-launch patch.
    Matthew Buzzi, PC Magazine, 12 May 2025
Noun
  • This nude lipstick shade has just a touch of warmth to it, plus gold flecks that catch the light for fuller-looking lips.
    Claire Sullivan, Footwear News, 6 May 2025
  • For all his flaws, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s willingness to speak openly about autism as a public health concern led some of us to find flecks of hope in his arrival as secretary of health and human services.
    Mark Kendall, Mercury News, 12 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Eyespot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/eyespot. Accessed 24 May. 2025.

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