What does spot mean?

What does spot mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does spot mean? - The Free Dictionary

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[n] a point located with respect to surface features of some region(this is a nice place for a picnic a bright spot on a planet)[v] catch sight of[n] a short section or illustration (as between radio or tv programs or in a magazine) that is often used for advertising[v] detect with the sen

spot

spot - The Free Dictionary

[n] a point located with respect to surface features of some region
(this is a nice place for a picnic a bright spot on a planet)

[v] catch sight of

[n] a short section or illustration (as between radio or tv programs or in a magazine) that is often used for advertising

[v] detect with the senses
(The fleeing convicts were picked out of the darkness by the watchful prison guards I can't make out the faces in this photograph)

[n] an outstanding characteristic
(his acting was one of the high points of the movie)

[v] mar or impair with a flaw
(her face was blemished)

[n] a blemish made by dirt
(he had a smudge on his cheek)

[v] make a spot or mark onto
(The wine spotted the tablecloth)

[n] a small contrasting part of something
(a bald spot a leopard's spots a patch of clouds patches of thin ice a fleck of red)

[v] become spotted
(This dress spots quickly)

[n] a section of an entertainment that is assigned to a specific performer or performance
(they changed his spot on the program)

[v] mark with a spot or spots so as to allow easy recognition
(spot the areas that one should clearly identify)

[n] a business establishment for entertainment
(night spot)

[n] a job in an organization
(he occupied a post in the treasury)

[n] a slight attack of illness
(he has a touch of rheumatism)

[n] a small piece or quantity of something
(a spot of tea a bit of paper a bit of lint I gave him a bit of my mind)

[n] a mark on a die or on a playing card (shape depending on the suit)

[n] a lamp that produces a strong beam of light to illuminate a restricted area; used to focus attention of a stage performer

[n] a playing card with a specified number of pips on it to indicate its value
(an eight-spot)

[n] an act that brings discredit to the person who does it
(he made a huge blot on his copybook)

Other vocabulary

's gravenhage, s, s wrench, s-shape, s-shaped, s. s. van dine, s. smith stevens, s.t.p., s.u.v., s/n, sa, sa node, saale, saale glaciation, saale river, saame, saami, saarinen, saba, sabah, sabahan, sabal, sabal palmetto, sabaoth, sabaton, sabayon, sabbat, sabbatarian, sabbath, sabbath school, p, p-n junction, p-n-p transistor, p-type semiconductor, p. g. wodehouse, p. p. von mauser, p. t. barnum, p.a., p.a. system, p.e., p.m., p.o., p/e ratio, pa, pa system, pa'anga, paba, pabir, pablo casals, pablo neruda, pablo picasso, pablum, pabulum, pac, pac-man strategy, paca, pace, pace car, pace lap, pacemaker

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.