Meaning & use
dappled light
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
Sunlight broken into small bright patches and shadows, usually where it passes through leaves or moving water.
Grammar: Uncountable: dappled light fell across the path; you cannot say a dappled light for this sense.
Patterns
- dappled light on something
- in the dappled light
Dappled light danced across the forest floor.
They sat in the dappled light under the old oak tree.
The painter loved the dappled light that fell through the garden trees.
Common combinations
- in dappled light
- The children played in dappled light.
- dappled light falls
- Dappled light falls through the canopy in the afternoon.
- soft dappled light
- Soft dappled light made the room feel calm.
- dappled light and shade
- The path alternated between dappled light and shade.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mottled light
- Mottled light sounds more uneven and spotted, and less pleasant, than the gentle feel of dappled light.
- filtered light
- Filtered light means light softened by a screen like a curtain or leaves, but it need not form patches.
- sunspots
- Sunspots refers to the individual bright patches on the ground, while dappled light is the overall effect.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: dappled light or dappled gray?
dappled light vs dappled gray
Dappled gray describes a horse coat with round lighter patches, not light on the ground.
Practice
Which scene is best described as having dappled light?
Choose one answer.
Dappled light happens when sunlight breaks into patches through leaves. A bare room, a cave and an even gray sky do not create bright and shaded patches.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dappled light”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.