1
as in speck
a very small piece
had only a nubbin of crayon left
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in root
the central part or aspect of something under consideration
this nubbin of the intelligence report is the prediction that the country's government will soon fall
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of nubbin
Secchi’s ragù is the opposite of bouncy meat nubbins bobbing in tomato sauce.
—
Chris Morocco, Bon Appetit Magazine, 16 Apr. 2025
Double-tapping the nubbin now pops up a menu with volume and microphone controls and voice typing.
—PCMAG, 17 Jan. 2025
Ground nubbins of paprika, cumin, sage and black pepper that have moldered into flavorless, colored molecules.
—Scott Hocker, theweek, 23 Dec. 2024
Heffernan, a gravely captivating newcomer, wraps each expression and gesture around a hard little nubbin of distrust.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
Being a bit of a handy man in a fight himself, Father Ryan taught Frankie how to roll with a punch, how to upset a right swing with a left stab to his shoulder, and how to swing in with a right cross to the nubbin of the chin while his man was off keel.
—Westbrook Pegler, New York Daily News, 18 Jan. 2024
That changed at 1:03 a.m. on Dec. 5 when 192 giant lasers at the laboratory’s National Ignition Facility blasted a small cylinder about the size of a pencil eraser that contained a frozen nubbin of hydrogen encased in diamond.
—Kenneth Chang, BostonGlobe.com, 13 Dec. 2022
Chris Morocco, Bon Appetit Magazine, 16 Apr. 2025
Double-tapping the nubbin now pops up a menu with volume and microphone controls and voice typing.
—PCMAG, 17 Jan. 2025
Ground nubbins of paprika, cumin, sage and black pepper that have moldered into flavorless, colored molecules.
—Scott Hocker, theweek, 23 Dec. 2024
Heffernan, a gravely captivating newcomer, wraps each expression and gesture around a hard little nubbin of distrust.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
Being a bit of a handy man in a fight himself, Father Ryan taught Frankie how to roll with a punch, how to upset a right swing with a left stab to his shoulder, and how to swing in with a right cross to the nubbin of the chin while his man was off keel.
—Westbrook Pegler, New York Daily News, 18 Jan. 2024
That changed at 1:03 a.m. on Dec. 5 when 192 giant lasers at the laboratory’s National Ignition Facility blasted a small cylinder about the size of a pencil eraser that contained a frozen nubbin of hydrogen encased in diamond.
—Kenneth Chang, BostonGlobe.com, 13 Dec. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nubbin
Noun
-
What emerged was an omelet of ideal and epitomic shape—straight, proudly puffed, about six and a half inches long and two and a half inches wide, with squarish ends and neither a speck nor drop of oil or liquid egg anywhere around.—
Jeffrey Steingarten,
Vogue,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Is that oblong speck an egg sac or a flake of dandruff?—
Tom Nichols,
The Atlantic,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The fish fry traces its roots back to 2021, when Robinson, founder of The Applesauce Group, a nonprofit that works to empower historically excluded communities, began hosting small gatherings during the uncertainty of the pandemic.—
Evan Moore,
Charlotte Observer,
9 Apr. 2026
-
What’s more, onions and other alliums have natural antibacterial properties that may inhibit the nitrogen-fixing bacteria on the roots of legume plants.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Its design, crafted by Russell Sage Studio, is meant to be an on-the-nose reflection of the distillery's famed product, with bronzy walls the color of its single malt, and a ceiling painted to look like barley, reflecting the morning dew with flecks of gold throughout.—
Alessandra Amodio,
Travel + Leisure,
9 Apr. 2026
-
Berber carpet Berber is a type of loop pile carpet with flecks of color.—
Faith Wakefield,
USA Today,
12 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
But her heart drifted toward other activities — usually whatever her brother Treston Brazile was doing, like baseball, soccer, and basketball.—
Charles Baggarly
April 7,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
7 Apr. 2026
-
The camera briefly returned to the actual game — the Giants’ Landen Roupp threw a pitch to Jorge Polanco, who fouled the ball off his foot — but the booth’s hearts were clearly in the stands.—
Samantha Agate,
Miami Herald,
6 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
When the crew retracted the drill to replace its bit, an overpowering jet of oil fountained from the well.—
Jeffrey Marlow,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Young Alfred Tennyson grew up in a similarly provincial bit of England, tucked away in his father’s vicarage on a remote part of the east coast of England in a village of fewer than a hundred souls.—
Kathryn Hughes,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
That series ended with a ruptured Achilles for superstar forward Jayson Tatum, and a battering ram taken to the extremities of a Celtics core that had claimed an NBA title just a season prior.—
Kristian Winfield,
New York Daily News,
10 Apr. 2026
-
If the core isn’t doing the work, the body will compensate in other ways.—
Ronnie Koenig,
SELF,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
In the late 1990s, when physicists unexpectedly discovered that neutrinos have mass, Thierry Lasserre abandoned cosmology to go all in on the particles.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
8 Apr. 2026
-
Subatomic particles, gravity wells and the beginning of the universe – these are difficult and mysterious concepts that are better understood with storytelling and metaphor.—
Regina G. Barber,
NPR,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Those still using a 486 for one reason or another will still be able to run older Linux kernels and vintage operating systems—running old software without emulation or virtualization is one of the few reasons to keep booting up hardware this old.—
Andrew Cunningham,
ArsTechnica,
7 Apr. 2026
-
There are also mini Bowser cauldrons capable of holding five to 11 kernels of popcorn.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Nubbin.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nubbin. Accessed 12 Apr. 2026.
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