- a small area of something, especially one which is different from the area around it
- a black dog with a white patch on its back
- a bald patch on the top of his head
- damp patches on the wall
- patches of dense fog
- We sat in a patch of shade under a tree.
Synonyms patchpatchdot ▪ mark ▪ spotThese are all words for a small part on a surface that is a different colour from the rest.patch an area of something, especially one which is different from the area around it:- a white dog with a black patch on its head
- patches of dense fog
- The letters ‘i’ and ‘j’ have dots over them.
- The island is a small green dot on the map.
- The horse had a white mark on its head.
- Which has spots, a leopard or a tiger?
- a patch/dot/mark/spot on something
- with patches/dots/marks/spots
- a blue/black/red, etc. patch/dot/mark/spot
Extra Examples- The velvet curtains were faded in patches.
- There were some patches of clear blue sky.
- Flowers provide little bright patches of colour around the garden.
- an isolated patch of forest
- icy patches on the roads
- located on a small patch of flat ground
- This led Nixon into a political briar patch (= a painful situation that is difficult to escape).
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- irregular
- clear
- coloured/colored
- …
- in patches
- patch of
- patch on
- …
- a patch of colour/color
Definitions on the go
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- a small piece of material that is used to cover a hole in something or to make a weak area stronger, or as decoration
- I sewed patches on the knees of my jeans.
Extra Examples- She wore a jacket with bright patches sewn onto it.
- dancers with patches on their costumes
- Students were wearing American flag patches on their sleeves.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + patch- have
- sew on/onto
- patch on
- a piece of material that you wear over an eye, usually because the eye is damaged
- He had a black patch over one eye.
- (North American English) (British English badge)a piece of material that you sew onto clothes as part of a uniform
- He wears a patch from his employer, Verizon.
- It has a UPS patch sewn on the right shoulder.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + patch- sport
- wear
- sew on
- …
- patch on
- a piece of material that people can wear on their skin to help them to stop smoking
- nicotine patches
- a small piece of land, especially one used for growing vegetables or fruit
- a vegetable patch
- We had a strawberry patch beside the greenhouse.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- isolated
- grassy
- bare
- …
- in a/the patch
- on a/the patch
- patch of
- (British English, informal) an area that somebody works in, knows well or comes from
- He knows every house in his patch.
- She has had a lot of success in her home patch.
- (informal, especially British English) a period of time of the type mentioned, usually a difficult or unhappy one
- to go through a bad/difficult/sticky patch
Extra Examples- I was going through a patch of poor health.
- Their business hit a sticky patch last year.
- The team has been through a rough patch recently.
- We did have a patch of bad luck, but we're through it now.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- bad
- difficult
- rocky
- …
- go through
- have
- hit
- …
- patch of
- a small piece of code (= instructions that a computer can understand) which can be added to a computer program to improve it or to correct a fault
- Follow the instructions below to download and install the patch.
- Update and apply all security patches to your browser, as soon as possible.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- security
- apply
- deploy
- download
- …
small area
piece of material
piece/area of land
difficult time
in computing
Word Originlate Middle English: perhaps from a variant of Old French pieche, dialect variant of piece ‘piece’.
Idioms
See patch in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee patch in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishbe not a patch on somebody/something
- (especially British English, informal) to be much less good, attractive, etc. than somebody/something else
- This book isn’t a patch on her others.
- Shop-bought jam is not a patch on home-made.
Check pronunciation:
patch