as in specks
a very small piece
there's not a mote of dirt in that woman's house
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of motes
Easily swept up by wind and carried long distances by water, these tiny motes are also exceedingly difficult to detect and almost impossible to remove from the environment.
—
K. R. Callaway, Scientific American, 22 Jan. 2026
There’s a Gambit-adjacent one that has players depositing motes while killing other teams.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025
The sensors’ small size allows seamless integration into almost any environment, while the wireless, modular design lets motes be added or removed as needed depending on the application.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 6 Aug. 2025
Powering and recording signals from multiple motes will require new techniques and better signal processing.
—Eliza Strickland, IEEE Spectrum, 21 Oct. 2016
K. R. Callaway, Scientific American, 22 Jan. 2026
There’s a Gambit-adjacent one that has players depositing motes while killing other teams.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025
The sensors’ small size allows seamless integration into almost any environment, while the wireless, modular design lets motes be added or removed as needed depending on the application.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 6 Aug. 2025
Powering and recording signals from multiple motes will require new techniques and better signal processing.
—Eliza Strickland, IEEE Spectrum, 21 Oct. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for motes
Noun
-
Also known as sunspots, solar lentigines, or liver spots, age spots are additional specks and bits of pigment caused by excessive sun exposure.—
Essence,
Essence,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Volcanic specks mushroom up from topaz seas, like a real estate brochure for The Man With The Golden Gun.—
Tristan Rutherford,
Robb Report,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
With radiation detectors lining the insides of those tanks, the properties of the incoming particles can be reconstructed.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
30 Jan. 2026
-
If two particles come from related sources, their relative momenta carry a fingerprint of that relationship.—
Tejasri Gururaj,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Editors could immediately tell that this wasn't your typical tortilla chip, noting the pale color and dark flecks of chia seed.—
Kimberly Holland,
Southern Living,
30 Jan. 2026
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The remaining scenes draw on familiar teenage horror tropes, with flecks of fresh insight.—
Natalia Winkelman,
IndieWire,
24 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Rather than turn them into a harsh awakening, however, writer-director Walter Thompson-Hernández makes a refreshing point of holding fast to big dreams and bits of poetry anyway — not to deny the realities of life, but to embrace it in all its bittersweet richness.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Jan. 2026
-
The older one does Warners cartoon bits, really old-fashioned, cheap-ass funny vaudeville stuff.—
Lea Veloso,
StyleCaster,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The new dietary guidelines call for prioritizing high-quality protein, along with healthy fats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains.—
Cheryl McCloud,
Florida Times-Union,
23 Jan. 2026
-
There may have been grains of truth in his complaints—Denmark’s neglect of the island, America’s long-standing interest in acquiring it, the implications of new sea lanes as its ice melts, the rising importance of security in the Arctic—but nothing excuses Trump’s behavior or language.—
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Her transdermal patches target sleep, focus, energy and intimacy, among other needs.—
Kathryn Hopkins,
Footwear News,
3 Feb. 2026
-
Your device checks for security patches, syncs system settings and keeps essential services running.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
This improves access for ions and molecules, which matters for batteries and chemical sensing.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
30 Jan. 2026
-
The finding, Araki said, suggests that many more molecules containing sulfur, perhaps even larger, could be detected in the future.—
Jacopo Prisco,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
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There's also something so satisfying about knowing that the robe is keeping the world a little less wasteful, being made entirely from the brand's fabric scraps.—
Julia Harrison,
Architectural Digest,
2 Feb. 2026
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Slower decomposition of food scraps can attract rodents and other unwanted critters.—
Barbara Gillette,
The Spruce,
1 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Motes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/motes. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.
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