as in blotch
a small area that is different (as in color) from the main part
canvases covered with streaks and mottles
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of mottle
Sara Hashemi, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Mar. 2025
Remember to continue your daily sunscreen use to stave off more mottle.
—Katie Becker, Harper's BAZAAR, 5 Oct. 2015
Cheryl McCloud, USA Today, 9 Apr. 2025
These spots stand out against dark brown backgrounds, mottling their typically beige or gray bodies.
—Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 16 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for mottle
Noun
As branching coral look-alikes, the cuttlefish splayed out their arms and displayed dark mottles to blend in with staghorn coral.
—Sara Hashemi, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Mar. 2025
Remember to continue your daily sunscreen use to stave off more mottle.
—Katie Becker, Harper's BAZAAR, 5 Oct. 2015
Verb
The Argentine tegu has mottled black and white skin.
—Cheryl McCloud, USA Today, 9 Apr. 2025
These spots stand out against dark brown backgrounds, mottling their typically beige or gray bodies.
—Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 16 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for mottle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mottle
Noun
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Their backs are a mixture of cream dots, orange-ish speckles and brown blotches.—
Aspen Pflughoeft,
Miami Herald,
2 June 2025
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These are more typically animals with stripes instead of blotches, missing patterns, and similar.—
Madison E. Goldberg,
People.com,
16 May 2025
Verb
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Allow cookies to cool completely before sprinkling powdered sugar on the walnut cookies.—
Lillian Ali,
Smithsonian Magazine,
17 June 2025
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Head to nearby Portland to experience these peppers in a more traditional way, sprinkled over one of the USA’s 50 Top Pizzas at Ken’s Artisan.—
Elena Valeriote,
Forbes.com,
16 June 2025
Noun
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After drying, Messinger meticulously cleans the artifacts with delicate animal-hair brushes and painstakingly removes rust, fleck by fleck, with a dental pick.—
Tammy Ljungblad,
Kansas City Star,
22 Apr. 2025
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The blue is speckled with some white flecks, which reminds me of blue enamelware pots and pans for a down-home aesthetic.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
26 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Even some of the international prospects who often dotted the late first round and early second are now taking big NIL offers from colleges around the country as their first move to the United States to play basketball.—
Eric Nehm,
New York Times,
18 June 2025
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Along the route, trekkers engage with local culture and stay at the mountain lodges that dot the trail, including Kongde Lodge.—
Chloe Berge,
Outside Online,
17 June 2025
Noun
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Examples can be seen as small red patches all across this view of Chamaeleon I. The most recent census of Chamaeleon I, by Penn State University astronomer Kevin Luhman in 2017, found about 50 new stars and brown dwarfs, bringing the total population of Chamaeleon I up to 226 members.—
Keith Cooper,
Space.com,
16 June 2025
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On a branch in a patch of sunlight, the owl landed and stared at us with big, bright, curious yellow eyes.—
The New York Times,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
15 June 2025
Verb
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As both business owner and head baker — her black chef’s coat is usually powdered with flour, her hands stained with icing — Vee won’t have time this June to participate in the Chicago Pride Parade.—
Sophie Levenson,
Chicago Tribune,
17 June 2025
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The team that would replace us would be stained, football would be stained.—
Felipe Cardenas,
New York Times,
17 June 2025
Noun
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Like specks of dirt falling victim to a vacuum, balls were simply drawn into his glove.—
Kyle Feldscher,
CNN Money,
19 June 2025
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This natural phenomenon, in which light-emitting sea creatures like algae cause the water to glitter with specks of blue and white light, is best viewed on a dark, moonless night.—
Jessie Beck,
AFAR Media,
16 June 2025
Verb
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Before concluding her cross-examination of one of the case’s most important witnesses, Geragos peppered Jane with questions about Combs continuing to pay her rent and her lingering ties to him.—
Molly Crane-Newman,
New York Daily News,
12 June 2025
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Police officers, outreach workers, nonprofit leaders and at least one economic development group viewed a demonstration of the program Monday before peppering the developers with questions.—
Blake Nelson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
9 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mottle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mottle. Accessed 29 Jun. 2025.
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