inkblot

English

Etymology

ink +‎ blot

Pronunciation
  • (Canada) IPA(key): /ˈɪŋkˌblɑt/

Noun

inkblot (plural inkblots)

  1. a blot of ink
    • 1922, Stephen Vincent Benét, Young People's Pride
      A note from Deller with five pencil sketches attached of the new trade figures for Brittlekin -- two bloated looking children with inkblot eyes looking greedily at an enormous bar of peanut candy.
  2. (figuratively) a dark, shapeless object
    • 1916, Joseph Conrad, Within the Tides
      In the morning he watched with unseeing eyes the headland come out a shapeless inkblot against the thin light of the false dawn, ...
  3. (psychology) one of the pictures used as stimuli in the Rorschach inkblot test
    • 1998, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV, episode 3.04)
      Look, I know that I have to do this, and I'll cooperate, and I'll look at your inkblots and everything, but I don't wanna talk about my life or my childhood or... anything, for that matter, actually.

Derived terms
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