MOTES Synonyms: 99 Similar and Opposite Words

motes

noun

plural of mote

as in specks

a very small piece there's not a mote of dirt in that woman's house

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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 motes Tiny bugs float in the sun like dust motes, and there are graceful flies large enough to require a runway landing. — John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 4 May 2026 Sunbeams through the windows illuminate floating dust motes—and, imperceptibly, microdroplets of mucus carrying the measles virus, expelled from an infected but asymptomatic child who is hopping and laughing among the others. — Elizabeth Bruenig, The Atlantic, 12 Feb. 2026 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for motes

Noun

Calcium shows up as bright white specks on the coronary artery images.

— Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 20 Aug. 2026
Pulse a few times, until crumbs range in size from specks to peas.

— Leah Eskin, Midwest Living, 14 Aug. 2026

Definition of specks

Noun

The optics are also described as being resistant to fast-moving fluids and particles, as well as to many chemicals.

— Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 17 Sep. 2026
But those procedures can also send plastic particles down the drain — waste that South Florida’s wastewater systems aren’t designed to catch.

— Laurie Mermet, Miami Herald, 15 Sep. 2026

Definition of particles

Noun

Some kits include stone-like chips or flecks to scatter over the surface of the wet paint for a realistic effect.

— Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 8 Sep. 2026
Hundreds of flecks of sequins caught the light as Jenner made her way down the red carpet, glittering from every angle.

— Chanel Vargas, InStyle, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of flecks

Noun

There were small tables that needed gluing, and there was always clothing to be mended, and, on this day, a lawn chair whose shredded side pieces were being replaced with unmatching but whimsical bits of material.

— Lydia Davis, New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2026
Some of the best bits are when there is no violence at all, said Jo Lawson-Tancred on Artnet.

— Will Barker, TheWeek, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of bits

Noun

Sand doesn’t contain many nutrients, and its grains don’t stick together like particles in fertile soil do.

— Maryna Holovnova, New Atlas, 13 Sep. 2026
Ricing season is well underway in Wisconsin, with tribal and non-tribal harvesters venturing onto rice beds to knock manoomin grains into canoes.

— Frank Vaisvilas, jsonline.com, 9 Sep. 2026

Definition of grains

Noun

But that gas could come in the form of the doughnut, or as puffy clouds that fill in patches of the black hole’s sky, as opposed to the shell of gas around a black hole star.

— Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 14 Sep. 2026
There were patches of pink, and some of his skin was visibly breaking down.

— Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of patches

Noun

Over time chemical reactions produced early versions of metabolism, the ability for molecules to pass down information, and the formation of compartments that would become the boundaries of cells.

— Sarah Scoles, Scientific American, 15 Sep. 2026
Within the cell, hydrogen molecules release electrons and protons at the anode.

— Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of molecules

Noun

Perhaps that’s why the show at Scully’s feels so major; by incorporating scraps of New York into the work, Prieto is finally metabolizing a piece of the city.

— Jill Singer, Curbed, 14 Sep. 2026
On that sixth consecutive practice, for example, a couple of scraps broke out.

— Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 14 Sep. 2026

Definition of scraps

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motels

motes

motet

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“Motes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/motes. Accessed 17 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of motes

noun

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