inkblot
noun
ink·blot ˈiŋk-ˌblät 
variants or ink blot or ink-blot
1
: a blot of ink
2
: any of several cards showing blots of ink for use in psychological testing
also : inkblot test
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Bored joggers are looking at oil stains on cement like inkblot tests to keep their minds busy. 
Kevin Armstrong, WSJ, 5 Mar. 2021 Now another inkblot of feathers rose off the September sheet water, swirled for a moment as if gathering its wits, and streamed straight for the decoys. T. Edward Nickens, Field & Stream, 24 Sep. 2020 Critically, the brain remains intact after a primary blast injury, and the only potential sign of trauma is a faint inkblot of blood that may be spread across its surface. Rachel Lance, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Mar. 2020 At a crossroads a gray—like a spreading inkblot—body. Joanne Turnbull, Harper's Magazine, 23 June 2020 For example, those are not, in fact, inkblot tests on the new menus. Nick Rallo, Dallas News, 11 June 2020 For now, there’s little more than inkblots to interpret. BostonGlobe.com, 25 Sep. 2019 During his infamously contentious confirmation hearings as a Supreme Court nominee in 1987, then-judge Robert Bork said the meaning of the Ninth Amendment was too uncertain for judges to enforce, famously comparing it to an uninterpretable inkblot. James T. Knight Ii, National Review, 20 Nov. 2019 Because movies are inkblots of one kind or another, as are books. Daniel A. Gross, The New Yorker, 29 Oct. 2019 See More
Kevin Armstrong, WSJ, 5 Mar. 2021 Now another inkblot of feathers rose off the September sheet water, swirled for a moment as if gathering its wits, and streamed straight for the decoys. T. Edward Nickens, Field & Stream, 24 Sep. 2020 Critically, the brain remains intact after a primary blast injury, and the only potential sign of trauma is a faint inkblot of blood that may be spread across its surface. Rachel Lance, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Mar. 2020 At a crossroads a gray—like a spreading inkblot—body. Joanne Turnbull, Harper's Magazine, 23 June 2020 For example, those are not, in fact, inkblot tests on the new menus. Nick Rallo, Dallas News, 11 June 2020 For now, there’s little more than inkblots to interpret. BostonGlobe.com, 25 Sep. 2019 During his infamously contentious confirmation hearings as a Supreme Court nominee in 1987, then-judge Robert Bork said the meaning of the Ninth Amendment was too uncertain for judges to enforce, famously comparing it to an uninterpretable inkblot. James T. Knight Ii, National Review, 20 Nov. 2019 Because movies are inkblots of one kind or another, as are books. Daniel A. Gross, The New Yorker, 29 Oct. 2019 See More Word History
First Known Use
1703, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing inkblot
Medical Definition
inkblot
noun
ink·blot ˈiŋk-ˌblät
: any of several plates showing blots of ink for use in psychological testing