specks 1 of 2

noun

plural of speck
1
as in flecks
a small area that is different (as in color) from the main part a lizard with specks of white against a green body

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in splashes
a very small amount not a speck of explanation to accompany the book's pictures

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in particles
a very small piece a speck of dust was preventing the laser from reading the disc

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

specks

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of speck
as in sprinkles
to mark with small spots especially unevenly dirt that had specked the windows of the factory for ages

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 specks
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 Pay close attention to where leaves meet the stem, the underside of leaves, and within the petals for any movement or tiny specks. — Jamie Cuccinelli, Martha Stewart, 4 Aug. 2026 The specks of dirt on the screen, that’s a byproduct of the process that Imax projectors use to advance the frames. — Chris Stanton, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2026 Six months later, there was hope of reconciliation as sovereignty talks opened between the governments over the specks in the ocean that had been part of the British Empire for more than a century. — Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 July 2026 Bellinger, once a babyface, now sports some light specks of gray. — Johnny Flores Jr, New York Times, 15 July 2026 One released a chaff cascade—hell’s own monsoon manifesting as specks of light, sound, and EM pulses falling through the hanging garden. — Jeff Spry, Space.com, 26 June 2026 Kansas City isn't much of a pedestrian city, but now, blue and green specks of fans dot the sidewalks, like wildflowers poking through a crack in the pavement. — Megan Spurrell, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for specks
  1. flecks
  2. splashes
  3. particles
  4. sprinkles
  5. dots
  6. glimmers
  7. bits
  8. stains
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
  • For all the back-to-back work, there were some splashes of imposter syndrome.
    — Alex Ritman, Variety, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Surrounded by towering trees, Kitch-iti-kipi’s surface pulls rich green and teal hues during the spring and summer; splashes of orange and yellow during the fall; and hints of white come winter.
    — Savannah Born, Travel + Leisure, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of splashes
Noun
  • Taken on July 24, during a particularly large influx of solar particles into the atmosphere, the observations reveal the full extent of the northern lights in UV light.
    — Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 30 Sep. 2026
  • The rule also translates to an extra 90 tons a year of soot particles and 4,870 additional tons a year of smog components such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted into the air in coming years, experts say.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of particles
Verb
  • Kemery sprinkles the tiny seeds either in late fall or very early spring, when there’s still a chance of frost, since cold spells offer the best germination.
    — SJ McShane, Martha Stewart, 11 July 2026
  • Thomson sprinkles critique throughout his book like seasoning unevenly applied to a gamey piece of meat.
    — Michael O’Donnell, The Atlantic, 2 July 2026
Definition of sprinkles
Noun
  • Faces were often obscured with colored dots, to draw the viewer’s attention away from an image’s central figures to the surrounding elements.
    — Jane Wooldridge, Miami Herald, 24 Sep. 2026
  • From the dining table below, where a young Charley often helped her grandmother fill blank planes with delicate dots, Caland could look up and see how far her line had taken her.
    — Tara Anne Dalbow, Los Angeles Times, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of dots
Noun
  • These sensual glimmers are no match for the antagonistic sociality of straight male relationships, which, in this novel, quickly convert sympathy or desire into rivalry and aggression.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2026
  • These are the glimmers of something in the fringes that keep The Cherry Orchard, even in our age of jonesing to burn it all down, so miraculously delicate and devastating.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of glimmers
Noun
  • Drawn from the Times or local rags, the cutouts sometimes included images; others were just bits of text from the news or obituary sections.
    — Ryan Sullivan, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Unavoidably the text has been chopped and channeled, with some swapping of parts, bits of narration screwed into dialogue and events described in a paragraph blown out into scenes.
    — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of bits
Verb
  • Advocates argue carts are silent, occupy less space than tourist vans and buses, and don’t choke the air with exhaust that also stains historic monuments.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 4 Sep. 2026
  • The man lies a few yards behind them, but the image stains her field of vision.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of stains

Browse Nearby Words

speckling
specks
specs
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Cite this Entry

“Specks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/specks. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.

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