To stipple is to make a picture, a shadow, or a surface out of many tiny dots or short dabs instead of continuous lines or smooth strokes. It is a technique word, used by artists, illustrators, printmakers and decorators. In drawing, you build up darkness by putting the dots closer together and leave light areas by spacing them out — old scientific illustrations and the portraits on banknotes are done this way. In painting and decorating, you stipple by pressing a stiff brush or a sponge straight onto the surface, tip-first, over and over, which leaves a rough dotted texture rather than brush marks. The word also works for the effect itself: a stippled wall, a stippled shadow. Beyond art, it gets used for anything that looks made of small scattered marks — 'sunlight stippled the path', a face stippled with freckles. Makeup artists borrowed it too: a stippling brush dabs foundation on instead of dragging it. It is not a common everyday word; if you meet it, you are almost certainly reading about art, decorating, or a surface texture.

點畫法、打點上色；名詞是那種「一點一點做出來的紋理」。美術課、油漆裝潢、化妝刷具都會用到這個說法。