Meaning & use
blob
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Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A small, soft lump or drop of a thick substance that has no clear shape.
Grammar: Countable and usually followed by of: a blob of paint.
Patterns
- a blob of something
He dropped a blob of cream on top of the pie.
A blob of glue fell onto the page and dried there.
She wiped a blob of mud off her boot.
nouncountableinformal
A vague shape or figure that is hard to make out, or a large, shapeless thing.
Grammar: Often used with an adjective describing color or size: a dark blob.
Patterns
- a blob on something
- a blob in the distance
On the radar screen there was a blob that might have been a storm.
From the plane, the city looked like a gray blob.
A dark blob moved slowly across the lake.
verbtransitiveinformalBritish
To put something down in a soft lump, or to mark a surface with blobs.
Grammar: Takes an object: blob some paint on the card.
Patterns
- blob something onto something
She blobbed some jam onto each slice of toast.
The painter blobbed white across the sky in the picture.
Don't blob the glue on so thickly.
Word forms
| plural | blobs |
|---|---|
| third person singular | blobs |
| past tense | blobbed |
| -ing form | blobbing |
Common combinations
- a blob of paint
- There was a blob of paint on the door handle.
- a blob of cream
- Add a blob of cream to each bowl of soup.
- a shapeless blob
- The clay was nothing but a shapeless blob at first.
- a dark blob
- A dark blob appeared on the horizon.
- a blob on the screen
- A tiny blob on the screen turned out to be a boat.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dollop
- A dollop is a soft lump of food that is served on purpose, such as cream, whereas a blob can be accidental.
- glob
- A glob is a thicker, messier lump, and it often feels sticky or heavy.
- splodge
- A splodge, mainly British, is a messy spot or smear rather than a rounded lump.
- smudge
- A smudge is a dirty mark or smear caused by rubbing, while a blob is a rounded lump.
Word family
- blobby adjective
- looking like a soft lump with no clear shape
- blobfish noun
- a deep-sea fish with a soft, jelly-like body
Commonly confused: blob or blog? blob or bloc?
blob vs blog
A blog is an online journal or website, and it differs from blob by a single letter.
blob vs bloc
A bloc is a group of countries or parties acting together, and it sounds different from blob.
Practice
Which description best fits a blob?
Choose one answer.
A blob is a soft, shapeless lump. A ruled line, a patterned coin and a sharp shard all have definite, clear shapes.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “blob”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.