- 1a small area of something, especially one that 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.
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
piece of material - 2a 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.
- 3a piece of material that you wear over an eye, usually because the eye is damaged He had a black patch over one eye. see eyepatch
- 4a piece of material that you sew onto clothes as part of a uniform
- 5a piece of material that people can wear on their skin to help them to stop smoking nicotine patches in computing
- 6a small piece of code (= instructions that a computer can understand) that 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. piece/area of land
- 7a small piece of land, especially one used for growing vegetables or fruit a vegetable patch
- 8(informal) a period of time of the type mentioned, usually a difficult or unhappy one to go through a bad/difficult/rough patch Thesauruspatch
- dot
- mark
- spot
- patch an area of something, especially one which is different from the area around it:a white dog with a black patch around its eye patches of dense fog
- dot a small round mark on something, especially one that is printed:The letters “i” and “j” have dots over them. The island is a small green dot on the map. Periods and decimal points are often referred to as “dots,” especially when talking about computers:The file is called “my essay dot doc.” The IP address is “192 dot 168 dot zero dot zero.”
- mark a noticeable area of color on the body of a person or an animal:The horse had a white mark on his head.
- spot a small round area that is a different color or feels different from the surface it is on:Which one 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
small area
Check pronunciation: patch