1
as in to stain
to make dirty
a tablecloth daubed with too many spills to ignore any longer
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to smear
to rub an oily or sticky substance over
he begins his nightly transformation into a circus clown by daubing greasepaint on his face
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as in drawing
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of daub
Tanvi Chheda, AFAR Media, 17 Jan. 2025
The paintings of Mickalene Thomas are big, bold, gaudy, and beautiful, embedded with rhinestones, daubed with phosphorescent color, and composed like crazy quilts.
—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2025
Sacramento Bee, 30 Jan. 2024
The little daubs that represent passersby are miracles of characterization.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2023
See All Example Sentences for daub
Verb
The burial ground and temple were unearthed when someone tried to build a drainage channel for a modern house; to prevent the dampness of visitors’ breath from damaging the extraordinary artworks daubed on the walls, entry is limited to 80 people per day.
—Tanvi Chheda, AFAR Media, 17 Jan. 2025
The paintings of Mickalene Thomas are big, bold, gaudy, and beautiful, embedded with rhinestones, daubed with phosphorescent color, and composed like crazy quilts.
—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2025
Noun
Much as the eye might want to blot out the offending image, Photoshop it out of existence and daub more verdancy onto this screen-saver panorama, the reality of human habitation, and its concomitant messiness, must be reckoned.
—Sacramento Bee, 30 Jan. 2024
The little daubs that represent passersby are miracles of characterization.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2023
See All Example Sentences for daub
Recent Examples of Synonyms for daub
Verb
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If Bonhoeffer’s example is used to justify more far-right Christian violence in America, that would be another tragedy — and a cruel irony that would stain the legacy of a man who gave up everything to confront a tyrant.—
John Blake,
CNN Money,
13 Apr. 2025
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Pérez's manager, Enrique Paulino, spoke to reporters at the scene, his shirt stained with blood.—
Gordon G. Chang,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Martin and a companion on April 27, 2023, entered the Washington, DC, museum and smeared washable red and black paint on the case protecting Edgar Degas’s 1881 Little Dancer Aged Fourteen in an effort to bring attention to the climate crisis.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
9 Apr. 2025
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Timothy Martin smeared red and black paint on a case shielding a nearly 150-year-old sculpture by Edgar Degas, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.—
Michael Loria,
USA Today,
9 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The eighty-one-year-old Crumb, dressed in a long dark coat and his trademark fedora and Coke-bottle glasses, looked over his drawings as if trying to place old acquaintances at a party.—
Bruce Handy,
New Yorker,
14 Apr. 2025
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Walz, who has worked many years as a special-education teacher, infuses his drawings with energy, with Theo free falling, sometimes upside down, in a palette of grays and maroons.—
Mary Ann Grossmann,
Twin Cities,
13 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Unlike a total solar eclipse, when the disk of the sun is completely blackened, an eclipsed moon does not vanish completely from the sky.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
TIME,
11 Mar. 2025
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But the negro resents and utterly repudiates the effort to blacken his good name by asserting that assaults upon women are peculiar to his race.—
Liz Tracey,
JSTOR Daily,
21 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Include a beginner's guide to painting to encourage new techniques.—
Jené Luciani Sena,
FOXNews.com,
14 Apr. 2025
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In addition, fans are excited to pick up official miniatures to paint and portray desperate battles between humans and Xenomorphs on the table top.—
Rob Wieland,
Forbes.com,
14 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Boardman previously painted a portrait of Barack Obama following the 2003 death of Lawrence Williams, who had painted all 43 previous presidential portraits, according to the outlet.—
Latoya Gayle,
People.com,
24 Mar. 2025
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Both a beautiful snapshot of our majestic Arctic climate and a charming portrait of young adults each trying to overcome their own personal challenges, the film eschews the typical competing teens documentary for a subtler tale about sensitive souls and coming-of-age.—
Addie Morfoot,
Variety,
24 Mar. 2025
Verb
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For example, a small non-shedding dog that rarely goes outside won't dirty a bed nearly as fast as a large labarador that plays outside daily.—
Halee Miller Van Ryswyk,
Better Homes & Gardens,
7 Apr. 2025
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Grease dirtied the handles of the ovens, the microwave ovens and the coolers.—
David J. Neal,
Miami Herald,
14 Feb. 2025
Verb
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How to Preserve Flowers with Beeswax The hack itself is simple—just melt some beeswax into a bowl or jar, grab a single flower of your choice, and dip it straight in until it's fully coated.—
Sophia Beams,
Better Homes & Gardens,
9 Apr. 2025
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Not to mention, it’s also constructed with durable stoneware and coated in a nonporous enamel glaze that is stain- and scratch-resistant, too.—
Alicia Geigel,
Southern Living,
9 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Daub.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/daub. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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