plural specks
1
: a small discoloration or spot especially from stain or decay
2
: a very small amount : bit
3
: something marked or marred with specks
specked; specking; specks
: to mark (something or someone) with or as if with specks : speckle
High up against the horizon were the huge conical masses of hill … with sombre greenish sides visibly specked with sheep …—
George Eliot
George Eliot… the strange little figure there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom … had the effect of a real spirit …—Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë
: a cold-smoked Italian ham that is flavored with herbs and spices such as juniper, black pepper, and garlic
Speck, like prosciutto, is a salt- and air-cured and aged pork hind leg. Unlike prosciutto, speck is cold-smoked, which makes it rare among Italian cured meats.—Allison Batdorff
Allison BatdorffSpeck is deeply red and more firm in texture than prosciutto. Since it's a cured meat, it can be sliced thin and eaten raw in an antipasti platter, wrapped around sweet fruits, or layered on sandwiches.—Emma Christensen
Emma ChristensenDiaphanous sheets of speck and pucks of fried trotters are piled onto picturesque salumi platters.—Garrett Snyder
Garrett SnyderBy the time Roman agronomist Cato the Elder wrote his famous treatise on agriculture around 160 BC, the techniques for salt-curing ham he describes were well established, the precursor of today's prosciutto and speck.—Steven Raichlen
Steven RaichlenSynonyms
Examples of speck in a Sentence
Noun (1)
There was not a speck of dust anywhere.
Soon the balloon was only a speck in the sky.
She writes without a speck of humor.
Verb
dirt that had specked the windows of the factory for ages
Recent Examples on the WebWendy Bowman, Robb Report, 4 Apr. 2024
This land was stripped of its dense vegetation by miners scouring the subsoil for tiny specks of gold, using mercury to separate the gold from the sediment.
—Simeon Tegel, NPR, 2 Apr. 2024
What Causes Dry Eye? What Are Eye Floaters? Eye floaters are basically specks that float around in your field of vision.
—Cassie Shortsleeve, Health, 30 Mar. 2024
Also known as Easter Island, or Isla de Pascua in Spanish, Rapa Nui is a speck of land in the Pacific, 2,200 miles from the west coast of Chile.
—Daniel Lewis, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Mar. 2024
There’s not a speck of iceberg lettuce or a sticky Heinz bottle (dating back to who knows when) in sight.
—Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 6 Mar. 2024
The specks blazed with light and shot away from the sun, accelerating.
—Karl Schroeder, IEEE Spectrum, 24 Feb. 2024
With Justine Skye, on the other hand, glitter was more subdued with two specks on otherwise neutral eyelids.
—India Espy-Jones, Essence, 29 Jan. 2024
Last sold back in August 2012 for a speck over $9.6 million to L.A.-based hedge fund manager Naveen Jeerreddi and his longtime wife, former actress Amy Hathaway, the alluring Spanish Colonial Revival estate has now returned to the market, this time asking $19.8 million.
—Wendy Bowman, Robb Report, 20 Mar. 2024
New York Times, 16 Nov. 2019
Now, their territory has fewer than 1,000 residents and consists of about 7,300 acres, with roads wandering through woods specked with modest family homes.
—New York Times, 22 June 2018
For all its strengths, though, the series proves a bit of a slog, at times, as the wheels turn along the dusty, blood-specked road to wherever this maze leads.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 19 Apr. 2018
To get into the spirit, order a ginger beer and rock shrimp fritters, fried balls of doughy goodness specked with bell pepper and spices that come steaming hot with a side of spicy mayo.
—Mark Kurlyandchik, Detroit Free Press, 12 Feb. 2018
Moonchild is specked with obvious glitter, which could be a deterrent for some.
—Devon Abelman, Allure, 15 Sep. 2017
The majority of it, however, was specked with red SALE signs, noting that the red, white, and blue a-line miniskirt was 40 percent off (from $80 to $53.40) and white sculpting mid-rise skinny jeans (from $89 to $36.60).
—Emily Jane Fox, The Hive, 10 Aug. 2017
Noun
Now, almost three decades after her death, the 19th-century residence has popped up for sale, asking a speck under $10 million.
—Wendy Bowman, Robb Report, 4 Apr. 2024
This land was stripped of its dense vegetation by miners scouring the subsoil for tiny specks of gold, using mercury to separate the gold from the sediment.
—Simeon Tegel, NPR, 2 Apr. 2024
What Causes Dry Eye? What Are Eye Floaters? Eye floaters are basically specks that float around in your field of vision.
—Cassie Shortsleeve, Health, 30 Mar. 2024
Also known as Easter Island, or Isla de Pascua in Spanish, Rapa Nui is a speck of land in the Pacific, 2,200 miles from the west coast of Chile.
—Daniel Lewis, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Mar. 2024
There’s not a speck of iceberg lettuce or a sticky Heinz bottle (dating back to who knows when) in sight.
—Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 6 Mar. 2024
The specks blazed with light and shot away from the sun, accelerating.
—Karl Schroeder, IEEE Spectrum, 24 Feb. 2024
With Justine Skye, on the other hand, glitter was more subdued with two specks on otherwise neutral eyelids.
—India Espy-Jones, Essence, 29 Jan. 2024
Last sold back in August 2012 for a speck over $9.6 million to L.A.-based hedge fund manager Naveen Jeerreddi and his longtime wife, former actress Amy Hathaway, the alluring Spanish Colonial Revival estate has now returned to the market, this time asking $19.8 million.
—Wendy Bowman, Robb Report, 20 Mar. 2024
Verb
The 656-foot vessel, called the Golden Ray, has been lying since early September off a slice of the Georgia coast specked with resorts and sprawling high-dollar homes.
—New York Times, 16 Nov. 2019
Now, their territory has fewer than 1,000 residents and consists of about 7,300 acres, with roads wandering through woods specked with modest family homes.
—New York Times, 22 June 2018
For all its strengths, though, the series proves a bit of a slog, at times, as the wheels turn along the dusty, blood-specked road to wherever this maze leads.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 19 Apr. 2018
To get into the spirit, order a ginger beer and rock shrimp fritters, fried balls of doughy goodness specked with bell pepper and spices that come steaming hot with a side of spicy mayo.
—Mark Kurlyandchik, Detroit Free Press, 12 Feb. 2018
Moonchild is specked with obvious glitter, which could be a deterrent for some.
—Devon Abelman, Allure, 15 Sep. 2017
The majority of it, however, was specked with red SALE signs, noting that the red, white, and blue a-line miniskirt was 40 percent off (from $80 to $53.40) and white sculpting mid-rise skinny jeans (from $89 to $36.60).
—Emily Jane Fox, The Hive, 10 Aug. 2017
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'speck.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near speck
Cite this Entry
“Speck.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/speck. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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