motley
To give something a patchwork appearanceTo give something a patchwork appearance.
» A motley crew of educators and students gathered at the seminar.
VH · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 senses(transitive)To give something a patchwork appearance.
(broadly, figuratively, transitive)To make something multicolored, variegated, or diverse in character.
make something more diverse and varied
Examples
2 sentencesA motley crew of educators and students gathered at the seminar.
They're a motley crew.
ruОни разношёрстная команда. — Wezel
deSie sind ein zusammengewürfelter Haufen. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Origin
From Middle English motle, from Anglo-Norman motteley (“parti-colored”), from Old EnglishFrom Middle English motle, from Anglo-Norman motteley (“parti-colored”), from Old English mot (“speck”). Doublet of mote. The English word can be analysed as mottle + -y.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
motleys, motleying, motleyed, motleyedSynonyms
3 synonymsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.