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inkblot

inkblot

3 6.3
A spot of ink with an irregular shape often used in tests
  • noun
  • /ˈɪŋkˌblɑt/
translation icon : mancha de tinta
  • During the art class, we created an inkblot artwork by folding paper over wet ink to see what shapes would emerge.
  • inkblot test
  • Rorschach inkblot
  • inkblot pictures

One of you told me inkblot tests are also known as Rorschach tests.

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Examples

  • Across the Atlantic, Howard Andrew Knox, an assistant surgeon at Ellis Island, developed the Inkblot Imagination Test in 1914.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Paul, I have 10 cards, each with a picture of an inkblot on it, okay?

  • I told him it was a very nice inkblot with little points all around the edges.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • One of you told me inkblot tests are also known as Rorschach tests.

  • It's the test I took before the operation -- the one with the inkblots on the pieces of cardboard.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Rorschach was not the only one to apply inkblots in psychological evaluation.

    Academic text (2017)
  • In psychology, therapists use an inkblot test to understand a patient's thoughts and feelings.

  • The inkblot appeared as a dark spot on the paper, with intricate shapes that sparked my imagination.

Synonyms

blot
vsinkblot
8 2.7

A small mark often made by ink or dirt

is used as a test image to interpret perceptions rather than a simple mark
splotch
vsinkblot
3 4.8

A large uneven mark of color or dirt on a surface

is typically a deliberate test figure for interpretation rather than a large stain
blotch of ink
vsinkblot
3.5

A dark patch of ink from a spill or a smudge

is used as a stimulus in psychological interpretation rather than a spill mark

Compounds

inkblot test
  • Specialized
1 6.1

A test where people say what ink pictures look like to show their personality and feelings

How Big

inkblot
3 6.3
speck
66 1.3

Surface Forms

inkblot singular
inkblots plural

Morphology

inkblot = ink + blot (transparent) = ink + blot

The meaning 'a blot of ink' is directly and clearly composed from 'ink' + 'blot', a straightforward compound.

Etymology

Inkblot is simply the clear mix of ink and blot, and a blot is a 'spot' or 'stain' of ink. Because psychologists have long used strange ink 'spots' to see what people imagine, an inkblot now often means an irregular ink 'spot' used to test what someone sees or thinks.