dapple

So when the rain comes, it doesn't just dapple us with light sprinkles, it drops the heavier load of moisture that has been accumulating for a longer time.

From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2023

Gleaming spots caused by methane ice clouds in the planet's atmosphere dapple its lower half.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 20, 2022

By contrast, Domon Ken’s “Mr. and Mrs. Kotani: Survivors of the Atomic Bomb” from 1957 depicts parents and a chubby baby, smiling widely despite the scars that dapple Mr. Kotani’s face.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2019

Horse-drawn carriages click-clack around the lush public squares that dapple the map.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 31, 2018

Pantherlike in a dapple of tree shadow, Dodo Conway's black station wagon lay in wait.

From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

The subtlest animation looks the best, especially when sunlight dapples upon fur or felines flex their claws to assert power.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2024

I like the little dapples of light, too.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2023

Pink natural light dapples a river in one composition, while reflections of house lamps streak a dark lake in another.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 17, 2021

Her voice shines like dapples of pale moonlight, and is especially arresting in moments of ambling melancholy.

From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2021

The sun shone down through the rustling of ferns and stunted cypress of the island in dapples of light and shadow.

From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi

It wasn’t all that long ago that restaurants and bars around the country were dappled in the glow of cigarettes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

Over the past two years, Johnson has become a minority owner of multiple horses, including Sandman, a $1.2 million, dappled gray thoroughbred who competed in last year’s Derby.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

In a woodland glade, in dappled sunshine, Sharron and Glen Markey are arm-in-arm beside the tree they planted in memory of their beloved 17-year-old daughter, Helena, their only child.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2025

It’s an ideal companion piece to the site-specific daybed Skelly made to best enjoy the view from the sunroom’s expansive windows, where dappled light filters through an outdoor screen of towering bamboo.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2024

She has the bone structure to carry that kind of thing off, sharp cheekbones dappled with a sprinkling of freckles, a fine jaw.

From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

When you assemble the dessert into bowls and start dappling each island with caramel and toasted sliced almonds, your friends will begin to hover.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026

I stepped through the door, surveying the late-summer light dappling the antique wood floors.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2024

Sports run through Pittsburgh the way its rivers do, dappling the city’s culture with hints of black and gold.

From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2024

Elusive stars began to emerge, dappling the stretches of sky that often look empty between streaks of red and green aircraft lights and astronomical divas like the North Star or Big Dipper.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2023

We saw three or four does and the albino stag flash through the trees ahead, sunlight dappling their flanks.

From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn