dot

A small round mark or spot.

• Draw a dot on the paper.
• Her skirt has white dots.
• A tiny dot appeared on the screen.

Similar words: spot, speck

Common phrases: red dot, small dot, dots on something

A small point used to end a sentence, shorten a word, or separate parts of a web address.

• The address ends in dot com.
• Put a dot after the abbreviation.
• She read every dot in the web address aloud.

Similar words: full stop, period, point

Common phrases: dot com, final dot

In “on the dot,” this means exactly at the stated time.

• Come at six on the dot.
• The train left at noon on the dot.
• Will you be here at nine on the dot?

Common phrases: on the dot, nine on the dot

A very small person or thing, or something that looks tiny from far away.

• The boat was a tiny dot.
• We watched the plane shrink to a dot.
• A dot of a child stood beside the enormous gate.

How to use it: a dot of a/an + noun (She was a dot of a child when I first met her.)

Similar words: speck

Common phrases: tiny dot, dot of something

To be spread in different places across an area.

• Small houses dot the valley.
• The coast is dotted with fishing villages.
• Lights dotted the distant hills.

How to use it: be dotted with something (The hillside was dotted with sheep.)

Similar words: scatter across

Common phrases: dot the landscape, dot the hills

To put small round marks on something.

• Remember to dot your i.
• He dotted the page with blue ink.
• She carefully dotted each letter i.

How to use it: dot something with something (She dotted the paper with red paint.)

Similar words: mark

Common phrases: dot an i, dot the page