as in dotted
marked with spots
create a stippled effect by dabbing a contrasting color of paint over an undercoat with a rag or sponge
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in sprinkled
to mark with small spots especially unevenly
the sunlight falling through the lace curtain stippled her face
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of stippled
The Atlantic, 19 Nov. 2025
The page squinted up at the nightingale, her dull feathers and stippled breast.
—Hazlitt, 19 Nov. 2025
Watch for yellow, stippled leaves, especially on flowering or fruiting plants.
—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 27 Oct. 2025
Over a 10-month period, our editors—all with vastly different preferences for coverage, finish, and format—buffed and blended (and swept and stippled) their way through about 650 submissions.
—Sophia Panych, Allure, 16 Sep. 2025
Literary Hub, 10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
Grating anything is usually a knuckle-threatening chore—but this stippled ceramic dish from Japan makes it into its own soothing ritual, turning a brown stem into liquidish gold with a few easy rubs.
—The Atlantic, 19 Nov. 2025
The page squinted up at the nightingale, her dull feathers and stippled breast.
—Hazlitt, 19 Nov. 2025
Watch for yellow, stippled leaves, especially on flowering or fruiting plants.
—Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 27 Oct. 2025
Over a 10-month period, our editors—all with vastly different preferences for coverage, finish, and format—buffed and blended (and swept and stippled) their way through about 650 submissions.
—Sophia Panych, Allure, 16 Sep. 2025
Verb
Inside the passage, the lips of water beyond my torchlight are coal black, stippled with freckles of sediment.
—Literary Hub, 10 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stippled
Adjective
-
Moss wore a black, semi-sheer polka-dot blouse featuring delicate, dotted-mesh fabric that revealed a glimpse of skin underneath.—
Lauryn Overhultz,
FOXNews.com,
7 Mar. 2026
-
The top surface is glass and features a dotted, dark ceramic coating burned into the top of the glass that only one factory in the world can make, according to Thornton.—
PJ Green
March 3,
Kansas City Star,
3 Mar. 2026
Verb
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From March to May, the hiking trails are sprinkled with vibrant yellow desert marigolds, deep purple lupines, and bright red and orange Indian paintbrush blooms, among other varieties.—
Annie Daly,
Vogue,
10 Mar. 2026
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Smoked Arctic char from neighboring Labrador came next, layered on thick slices of brown bread and sprinkled with citrusy larch shoots.—
Gina DeCaprio Vercesi,
Travel + Leisure,
10 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
People gathered at Navy Pier on Saturday to celebrate the Hindu spring tradition of Holi, also known as the festival of colors, with music, dance, and by throwing and decorating each other with colored powder.—
Chris Sweda,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Mar. 2026
-
Sorting blocks into different colored buckets.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
9 Mar. 2026
Verb
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And across the room, there's a large wardrobe that's stained to match.—
Sarah Everett,
The Spruce,
12 Mar. 2026
-
It’s been dried, stripped of bark, sanded to silky smoothness, stained, sealed and painstakingly carved.—
Kathy Gurchiek,
AJC.com,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
But Tariq’s body was already cold, and his skin was mottled.—
Ben Taub,
New Yorker,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Shiny and dark evergreen foliage is held aloft on strong, arching stems mottled with purple flecks.—
Kim Toscano,
Southern Living,
21 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Locked in a safe on her desk at Boston University’s Institute for Astrophysical Research is a shard of meteorite flecked with material older than the sun.—
James Dinneen,
Quanta Magazine,
2 Mar. 2026
-
Her sky-blue eyes, flecked with silver and hazel, narrow slightly, then relax.—
Gerald Witt,
AJC.com,
1 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
That’s because very ripe bananas—which are speckled with brown spots or even completely brown—are naturally sweeter than their green or yellow counterparts.—
Heather Riske,
Better Homes & Gardens,
5 Mar. 2026
-
My sister’s eyes were bloodshot, and her skin was speckled with tiny, red dots.—
Des Moines Register,
Des Moines Register,
2 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Stippled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stippled. Accessed 15 Mar. 2026.
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