smear
- noun
- /smɪr/
- Son, you have a little smear of something on your cheek.
And and it's not a smear, it's a spatter.
- And and it's not a smear, it's a spatter.
- Joe was rolling smears and strawberry smear on your belly button.
- Feel like it looks too neat and I'm going to do the smear look.
- Everything would disappear into a kind of smear of grey, umm, and therefore there'd be no variation to, to work on.
Examples
-
Son, you have a little smear of something on your cheek.
-
After several horrified seconds, it registered that the scarlet smears on my fingers were blood.
Fiction book (1993) -
That's when I notice the blood - a smear of it on my right hand.
Fiction book (1996) -
Smoke had left a smear of greasy soot on the glass.
Fiction book (1991) -
Night and rain combined to make disoriented streets and paint smears of light across the windshield.
Fiction book (1992) -
And she was crying with joy, kissing him, and leaving smears of lipstick all over his tan, weathered face.
Fiction book (1991) -
Bain wipes the sweat from his forehead and leaves a smear of black from the charcoal.
Fiction book (1995) -
I noticed a smear of grease on the kitchen counter after cooking.
-
There was a water smear on the glass that made it hard to see outside.
Synonyms
A visible line, spot, scratch, or stain on a surface
A small round mark on a surface, for example on a card or dice
A mark that makes something a different color and is hard to remove
A dirty mark on something that makes it look untidy
A mark of blood on clothes or other surfaces
A small mark that spoils the look of skin or an object
A small mark often made by ink or dirt
A small spot of dirt on skin or clothing
A mark on something made by wet mud
A small spot or stain on a surface
A small spot of dirt or sticky food on something
A dirty mark that spoils the look of clothing or fabric
Small dirty marks on surfaces or paper
A dark patch of ink from a spill or a smudge
A small spot on a surface showing an imperfection
Antonyms
Compounds
An organized effort to hurt someone's reputation by making false or unfair accusations
- Specialized
A medical test in which a doctor takes cells from a woman's cervix to check for signs of cancer
- UK
A medical test that checks cells from a woman's cervix for signs of cancer or other problems
- Specialized
A sample of cells taken from the lungs with a small camera to check for lung disease
- Specialized
A small sample of cells spread thin on a glass slide to look at under a microscope
- Specialized
A small sample of cells taken from the upper part of the small intestine to check for infection
- Specialized
A medical test that takes cells from the food pipe to look at under a microscope
- Specialized
A sample of cells taken from part of the digestive tract to check for diseases like cancer
- Specialized
A sample from the lungs placed on a slide to look for infection or cancer
- Specialized
A lab test where a sample from the stomach is put on a slide to check for infection
- Specialized
A test that collects cells from the opening of a woman's womb to look for early cancer
- Specialized
A test that examines material from the first part of the small intestine under a microscope to check for infection
- Specialized
A lab test that spreads lung mucus on a slide and checks it under a microscope for disease
- Specialized
A sample of cells taken from the inside of a woman's birth canal to check for infection or unusual cells
How Noticeable
Surface Forms
Etymology
Smear as a mark comes from the old English verb smeoran 'to rub'. If you rub a wet or dirty thing across a surface you leave a 'smear', so the origin explains the meaning of a dirty or greasy mark.