PATCHES Synonyms: 186 Similar and Opposite Words

patches 1 of 2

noun

plural of patch

as in blotches

a small area that is different (as in color) from the main part a black cat with a small patch of white next to her nose

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as in specks

a very small piece a patch of land hardly big enough for a garden

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

patches

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of patch

as in repairs

to put into good shape or working order again patch the tire and it'll be as good as new

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 patches

Noun

Games like cornhole, ringer darts and Kubb — a lawn game involving teams tossing wooden blocks to knock over their opponents’ blocks — were set up on small turf patches. — Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 11 Oct. 2026 First comes the tightness and dullness, then the flaky patches around my cheeks. — Christa Joanna Lee, Allure, 9 Oct. 2026 Cooler gas doesn’t glow as brightly, so these patches are a little bit darker than the surrounding material. — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 9 Oct. 2026 Each style features archival details like period-correct buttons, hair-on-hide patches and suspender attachments on the jean. — Angela Velasquez, Footwear News, 8 Oct. 2026 Besides benefitting the monarchs, the patches of pink are easy on the eyes of northbound motorists. — Susan Degrane, Chicago Tribune, 8 Oct. 2026 Which is why the deals we’re stoked to see great sales on some of the best crepey skin treatments, mascaras for older women and wrinkle patches. — Alanna Martine Kilkeary, Glamour, 7 Oct. 2026 Among the drugs stolen were oxycodone, promethazine-codeine syrup, hydrocodone-acetaminophen, Adderall, Suboxone and fentanyl patches, according to police. — Cbs Baltimore, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026 There were taro patches and gardens planted with banana, sweet potato, sugar cane, noni, and more. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026

Verb

Next, there is the issue of tarsal glands (the dark patches on the rear legs of a buck, below the knee joint). — Jack Hennessy, Outdoor Life, 23 Sep. 2026 By Childs’s count, Tuesday’s release patches 972 vulnerabilities, and 997 when counting the porting of fixes for the Chromium browser incorporated into Edge. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 8 Sep. 2026 The unisex capsule, consisting of nine items, offers a nostalgic take on the history of F1, drawing on style icons like the late Ayrton Senna and the sponsor logo patches on drivers’ uniforms. — Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 7 Sep. 2026 To fix this issue, the FDA is leaning on manufacturers to step up and speed up production, adding shifts, expanding capacity, bringing on new lines and specialized equipment, and prioritizing estradiol patches ahead of other products. — Caitlin Kiernan, Flow Space, 4 Sep. 2026 Reps send payment links manually, RevOps patches data and Finance chases numbers that should’ve been captured upstream. — Ashish Srimal, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026 When Google publicly discloses and patches a flaw, details of exploiting the bug are often vague. — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 30 July 2026 Through the agreement, the Jayhawks will sport XRP Cryptocurrency patches on every Kansas Athletics jersey, including for the KU men’s basketball team. — Shreyas Laddha, Kansas City Star, 8 July 2026 Sweat patches Many professional soccer players started using commercial wearables long before the World Cup kicked off. — Jacqueline Howard, CNN Money, 5 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for patches

Noun

Juveniles can be distinguished by their dark facial bands and gray or tan body patterned with black or brown blotches.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Sep. 2026
Crews are also using steam to remove blotches of chewing gum, which have turned black over time.

— ABC News, ABC News, 16 Aug. 2026

Definition of blotches

Noun

The source was generally in good condition, but mold spots and dense clusters of small white specks required careful treatment.

— Lin Ying-Hsuan, Variety, 13 Oct. 2026
Breakouts can look like milder, painless white bumps or dark specks known as whiteheads and blackheads, or more painful red bumps and deeper cysts — a mark of cystic acne.

— Adithi Ramakrishnan, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of specks

Verb

In that dialogue, Endymion, the mythical shepherd, is imprisoned in an eternal sleep by Artemis and accosts a stranger who is on his way to Mount Latmus, where Endymion repairs each night to wait for Artemis.

— Max Norman, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026
Israel bars entry of almost all construction materials, making even repairs difficult.

— Wafaa Shurafa, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2026

Definition of repairs

Noun

The oversized jacket featured a furry white base adorned with flecks of silver, which beautifully mirrored the sumptuous coats on the runway.

— Chanel Vargas, InStyle, 25 Sep. 2026
Add the torn basil and process just until incorporated -- there will be flecks of green in the mixture.

— ABC News, ABC News, 19 Sep. 2026

Definition of flecks

Noun

O’Rourke and double bassist Johan Berthling shape a steady drone, while Ishibashi’s piano runs suggest time-lapse footage of ice crystals forming, ordinary little bits cohering into objects of wonder.

— Grayson Haver Currin, Pitchfork, 15 Oct. 2026
Cryptographers responded by lengthening the keys, and 2,048 bits is now considered the minimum.

— Chris Stokel-Walker, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of bits

Noun

Somewhere along the way, the Jacket decided to focus the run’s narrative arc on a celebration of the Grateful Dead, connecting the Dead’s dots between the bands, the venue, and the city in ways that ranged from subtle nods to overt testimony.

— Benjy Eisen, Rolling Stone, 12 Oct. 2026
Ahead, black dots move in formation like ants as Everest’s imposing upper flanks loom above them.

— Helen Regan, CNN Money, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of dots

Noun

Those products are made with tiny particles that are more likely to be inhaled or absorbed by marine organisms.

— ABC News, ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026
For example, when a credit card is fragmented into particles some 10 microns in diameter, there is a more than 200-fold increase in its surface area, says Wei Min, a chemist at Columbia University and one of the senior authors of the study.

— Payal Dhar, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2026