What does "dabble" mean?
A spattering or sprinkling of a liquid.
Dabble
/ˈdæb.əl/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A spattering or sprinkling of a liquid.
- Grammar: dabble is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: asperge, be innocent of, bedabble, bedew.
- Useful contrasts: abundance, dry, focus.
- Usage evidence: What a fool she is to dabble in stocks!
How to use "dabble"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "dabble" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "dabble" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "dabble" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "dabble" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "dabble" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "asperge" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "dabble", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A spattering or sprinkling of a liquid.
"Sir W. Rose has works that bear painful evidence of failing health; indeed, his group of the Duc et Duchesse d'Aumale (705), with the Prince de Condé and the Duc de Guise, is quite unfinished and even blotted. The face of the Duke is refined, but weak; the colour is pale, and the background only a dabble of unarranged and undrilled touches."
- 2 An act of splashing in soft mud, water, etc.
"Happily, however, he [the gnat] is born a swimmer and can take his pleasure in his native element, poising himself near its surface head downwards, tail upwards. Why chooses he this strange position? Just for the same reason that we rather prefer, when taking a dabble in the waves, to have our heads above water, for the convenience, namely, of receiving a due supply of air, which the little swimmer in question sucks in through a sort of tube in his tail."
- 3 An act of participation in an activity in a casual or superficial way.
"[…] I was induced to quit Leeds ſooner than uſual, as the concourſe of company which would aſſemble on that occaſion was expected to be very numerous and productive, and of courſe I could not idly let ſlip ſuch a lucrative proſpect but muſt have a dabble for the loaves and fiſhes."
Verb
- 1 To make slightly wet or soiled by spattering or sprinkling a liquid (such as water, mud, or paint) on it; to bedabble. transitive
"The Itelians […] reſpectleſſe of gentry, of few words, for they barrell up commonly more then they can broach, and ſo may be ſaid to be like a great bottle with a narrow necke; yet they are moſt cunning and circumſpect in negotiating, ſpecially when they have bin tampering with the Vine or the hop, and are dabbled a little with their liquor."
- 2 bob forward and under so as to feed off the bottom of a body of water wordnet
- 3 To cause splashing by moving a body part like a bill or limb in soft mud, water, etc., often playfully; to play in shallow water; to paddle. transitive
"The children sat on the dock and dabbled their feet in the water."
- 4 dip a foot or hand briefly into a liquid wordnet
- 5 To feed without diving, by submerging the head and neck underwater to seek food, often also tipping up the tail straight upwards above the water. intransitive
"When a duck dabbles its bill in mud, it is using the lamellae (transverse plates) on the inner edges of its bill as a highly efficient filter. As the duck dabbles, its tongue acts as a piston, sucking water or mud into the mouth and driving it out again. Only the edible particles are left behind on the lamellae."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 work with in an amateurish manner wordnet
- 7 To participate or have an interest in an activity in a casual or superficial way. figuratively, intransitive
"She’s an actress by trade, but has been known to dabble in poetry."
- 8 play in or as if in water, as of small children wordnet
- 9 To interfere or meddle in; to tamper with. intransitive, obsolete
"[A fellow of a college in Cambridge] freely confeſs'd, that he had for many Years been ranſacking Antiquity, in order to be the Author of ſome new Heresy or Opinion; and that after all his Searches, he cou'd think or fix upon nothing, but what on Fool or another had been meddling and dabbling with."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"What a fool she is to dabble in stocks!"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "dabble"?
Common synonyms include: asperge, be innocent of, bedabble, bedew, beguile the time, bespatter.
How do you use "dabble" in a sentence?
What a fool she is to dabble in stocks!
How do you pronounce "dabble"?
Pronounced /ˈdæb.əl/.
Etymology
From earlier dable, equivalent to dab + -le (frequentative suffix), possibly from Middle Dutch dabbelen (“to pinch; knead; to fumble; to dabble”); cognate with Icelandic dafla (“to dabble”).