fleck

[ flek ]
See synonyms for fleck on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a speck; a small bit: a fleck of dirt.

  2. a spot or small patch of color, light, etc.: the dapple mare with flecks of gray.

  1. a spot or mark on the skin, as a freckle.

verb (used with object)
  1. to mark with a fleck or flecks; spot; dapple.

Origin of fleck

1
1350–1400; Middle English flekked spotted; akin to Old Norse flekkr spot, streak, Old High German flec (German Fleck), Middle Low German, Middle Dutch vlecken to soil

Other words for fleck

Other words from fleck

  • fleckless, adjective
  • fleck·less·ly, adverb
  • flecky, adjective
  • un·flecked, adjective

Words that may be confused with fleck

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use fleck in a sentence

  • The broad, bright river flowing past the town by summer noon or night was never left unflecked with sails.

  • While Green Lake was embowered in a forest of pine, its companion lay in the open sunlight, unflecked by the shadow of a tree.

    Birds of the Rockies | Leander Sylvester Keyser
  • On a flat rock near it a boy was stretched, face up, looking into the blue, unflecked sky.

    The Fighting Edge | William MacLeod Raine
  • Here it was "unflecked" and set up facing the harbor and the cool breezes from the ocean.

    Remodeled Farmhouses | Mary H. Northend
  • League upon league of the great rolling sweeps of the land spread their panorama unflecked by a single homestead.

    Uruguay | W. H. Koebel

British Dictionary definitions for fleck

fleck

/ (flɛk) /


noun
  1. a small marking or streak; speckle

  2. a small particle; speck: a fleck of dust

verb
  1. Also: flecker (tr) to mark or cover with flecks; speckle

Origin of fleck

1
C16: probably from Old Norse flekkr stain, spot; related to Old High German flec spot, plot of land

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012