How to Use mottle in a Sentence

mottle

verb
Definition of mottlenext
Synonyms for mottlenext
  • The 11 brought to White Lake on Tuesday are still mottled brown and white.
    — Washington Post, 14 Nov. 2019
  • The curved tusk is dark- and light-brown, mottled and about 5.5 feet (1.7 meters) long.
    — Washington Post, 19 June 2018
  • The next day, as the bananas were mottling, a brainstorm hit.
    — Susan Gubar, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2020
  • Gray paint on the side of the building was still sooty and peeling, the sidewalk mottled and black.
    — Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2019
  • The viruses mottle, yellow, or curl leaves and stunt plant growth.
    — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 30 June 2023
  • What was once a teardrop below one eye now looks like a bruise or a birthmark, and scars mottle his hands.
    — Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2017
  • The Sundems' garage door is mottled with ball marks, the graffiti of a thousand games of Garage.
    — Steve Rushin, SI.com, 21 June 2017
  • The Earth is a tiny mottled ball at upper left and the moon is little more than a grey speck in the lower right corner.
    — Matthew Nighswander, NBC News, 29 Sep. 2017
  • The animal, with bared teeth and mottled fur, appeared ready to lunge.
    — Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2019
  • Kelvin steers the truck over a dry lagoon mottled with hippo prints to get closer.
    — Ken Geiger, National Geographic, 17 June 2019
  • When seen from above, the melting sea ice looked like a field of white mottled with dark splotches where the ice had turned to liquid.
    — Meredith Fore, WIRED, 5 July 2019
  • The damage causes plant foliage to look bronzed, flecked or mottled.
    — Betty Cahill, The Denver Post, 24 June 2019
  • Daisy hates bananas, even when they aren’t mottled with gray-green splotches.
    — David Canfield, EW.com, 5 June 2019
  • Down the slope ahead of him, 500 black Drakensberger and mottled Nguni cows graze cheek by jowl.
    — David McKenzie, CNN, 6 Mar. 2020
  • When the bottom tortilla is nicely mottled with golden-brown spots, flip the whole thing and cook until the cheese is melted.
    — Daniel Neman, Twin Cities, 6 June 2019
  • In his mugshot, the one-time police officer has wispy white hair and skin mottled with age — a far cry from the fair-haired young man in FBI sketches from decades ago.
    — James Queally, latimes.com, 29 Apr. 2018
  • Like every other dog around here, Dounia was small, thin, sharp-snouted, and mottled brown and white.
    — New York Times, 18 June 2018
  • Those pastel pinks that mold and mottle, from forced happiness to sweet melancholy.
    — David Campany, The New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2019
  • Some of species' pitchers have mottled coloring that looks a bit like tasty carrion, which lures prey inside the pitcher.
    — Liz Langley, National Geographic, 30 Oct. 2019
  • The spicebush swallowtail, for example, which is found throughout the eastern U.S., emerges from its egg mottled in black and white.
    — Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2023
  • The light from these sources danced unpredictably and was always mottled by the smoke of imperfect combustion.
    — Christopher Preston, Smithsonian, 26 Nov. 2019
  • Ever been on a run through the woods and notice litter mottling the otherwise natural scenery?
    — Nicole Spector /, NBC News, 16 June 2018
  • Their roots decayed, their growth was stunted, their leaves turned blotchy and mottled, and their fruit was misshapen, bitter and inedible.
    — Sena Christian, Newsweek, 19 Nov. 2015
  • Shots include the makeup artists air-brushing her toes a nice mottled gray, as well as adding a prosthetic layer to her hands to give them a not-so-fresh out-of-the-grave pallor.
    — Molly Horan, Teen Vogue, 15 Sep. 2017
  • Steckly had a long and mottled driving history, dating back to age 19.
    — oregonlive, 15 May 2020
  • His black cap and chest mottled with brown flecks distinguish him from a dozen other warblers with yellow bodies.
    — Ben Raines, AL.com, 20 Apr. 2018
  • Then there was the salt: sprinkled generously enough to mottle the fry’s golden skin and amplify the earthy flavors trapped inside.
    — Washington Post, 29 Nov. 2021
  • Others had arms and legs that were mottled purple, splotched with unexplained bruises.
    — Julie Bosman, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2018
  • Sam wriggles into her knickers, trying to hide her pale, mottled flesh under the towel.
    — Jojo Moyes, Marie Claire, 12 Oct. 2016
  • When paired with the label’s mottled-green denim, the gestural swoops read like off-duty camouflage.
    — Laura Regensdorf, Vogue, 9 Sep. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mottle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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