Spot vs Speck - What's the difference?

Speck is a synonym of spot.

In transitive terms the difference between spot and speck

is that spot is to see, find; to pick out, notice, locate, distinguish or identify while speck is to mark with specks; to speckle.

As a proper noun Spot

is a popular given name for a dog.

spot

English

Noun

(en noun)

A round or irregular patch on the surface of a thing having a different color, texture etc. and generally round in shape.

The leopard is noted for the spots of color in its fur.

A stain or disfiguring mark.

I have tried everything, and I can’t get this spot out.

A pimple, papule or pustule.

That morning, I saw that a spot had come up on my chin.

I think she's got chicken pox; she's covered in spots .

A small, unspecified amount or quantity.

Would you like to come round on Sunday for a spot of lunch?

(slang, US) A bill of five-dollar or ten-dollar denomination in dollars.

Here's the twenty bucks I owe you, a ten spot''' and two five '''spots .

A location or area.

I like to eat lunch in a pleasant spot outside.

For our anniversary we went back to the same spot where we first met.

* Milton

That spot to which I point is Paradise.

* Wordsworth

"A jolly place," said he, "in times of old! / But something ails it now: the spot is cursed."

* 2011 , Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/15210221.stm]

Yachvilli made it 6-0 with a second sweet strike from 45 metres after Matt Stevens was penalised for collapsing a scrum, and then slid another penalty just wide from the same spot .

A parking space.

(sports) An official determination of placement.

The fans were very unhappy with the referee's spot of the ball.

A bright lamp; a spotlight.

(US, advertising) A brief advertisement or program segment on television.

Did you see the spot on the news about the shoelace factory?

Difficult situation; predicament

She was in a real spot when she ran into her separated husband while on a date.

(gymnastics, dance, weightlifting) One who spots (supports or assists a maneuver, or is prepared to assist if safety dictates); a spotter

(soccer) penalty spot

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=January 8 , author=Chris Bevan , title=Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=The Gunners dominated for long periods but, against the run of play, Denilson fouled Max Gradel and Robert Snodgrass put Leeds ahead from the spot . }}

The act of spotting or noticing something.

- You've misspelled "terrapin" here.

''- Whoops. Good spot .

A variety of the common domestic pigeon, so called from a spot on its head just above the beak.

A food fish (Liostomus xanthurus ) of the Atlantic coast of the United States, with a black spot behind the shoulders and fifteen oblique dark bars on the sides.

The southern redfish, or red horse, which has a spot on each side at the base of the tail.

(in the plural, brokers' slang, dated) Commodities, such as merchandise and cotton, sold for immediate delivery.

An autosoliton.

Derived terms

* on the spot * put someone on the spot * sitspot * shot spot * spot check * spot color / spot colour * spot market * spot on * spot remover * spotty * X marks the spot

Verb

(spott)

To see, find; to pick out, notice, locate, distinguish or identify

Try to spot the differences between these two pictures.

(finance) To loan a small amount of money to someone.

I’ll spot you ten dollars for lunch.

(ambitransitive) To stain; to leave a spot (on).

Hard water will spot if it is left on a surface.

a garment spotted with mould

To remove, or attempt to remove, a stain.

I spotted the carpet where the child dropped spaghetti.

(gymnastics, dance, weightlifting, climbing) To support or assist a maneuver, or to be prepared to assist if safety dictates.

I can’t do a back handspring unless somebody spots me.

(dance) To keep the head and eyes pointing in a single direction while turning.

Most figure skaters do not spot their turns like dancers do.

To stain; to blemish; to taint; to disgrace; to tarnish, as reputation.

* Sir Philip Sidney

My virgin life no spotted thoughts shall stain.

* Beaumont and Fletcher

If ever I shall close these eyes but once, / May I live spotted for my perjury.

To cut or chip (timber) in preparation for hewing.

Statistics

Anagrams

* ----

speck

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

(countable) A tiny spot, especially of dirt etc.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.}}

(uncountable) A juniper-flavoured ham originally from Tyrol.

A very small thing; a particle; a whit.

* (Walter Savage Landor), quoted in 1971, Ernest Dilworth, Walter Savage Landor , Twayne Publishers, page 88,

Onward, and many bright specks bubble up along the blue Aegean; islands, every one of which, if the songs and stories of the pilots are true, is the monument of a greater man than I am.

A small etheostomoid fish, , common in the eastern United States.

Synonyms

* (small thing) See also .

Verb

(en verb)

To mark with specks; to speckle.

paper specked by impurities in the water used in its manufacture

* 1667 , '', 1991, Stephen Orgel, ?Jonathan Goldberg (editors), ''The Major Works , 2003, paperback, page 534,

Each flower of slender stalk, whose head though gay / Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with gold, / Hung drooping unsustained,

Etymology 2

Noun

(-)

The blubber of whales or other marine mammals.

The fat of the hippopotamus.