Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Having marks or scars from smallpox, acne, or similar skin eruptions: Describes skin that is marked by numerous small pits or scars left by a past disease.
   • Full of holes or pits: Describes a surface, especially a paved one, that has many small indentations or holes, making it uneven.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Skin):
  • His pockmarked face was a lasting reminder of the childhood illness.
  • The old photograph showed a man with a deeply pockmarked complexion.
• Adjective (Surface):
  • The pockmarked road made for a very bumpy ride.
  • Years of neglect had left the concrete sidewalk cracked and pockmarked.

Advanced Usage

• Figurative Use: Can be used metaphorically to describe something that is marred or damaged by many small flaws or negative events.
  • The country's history is pockmarked with periods of conflict and instability.
  • Her academic record was pockmarked by inconsistent grades.

Variants and Related Words

• Pockmark (noun): An individual pit or scar, especially one left on the skin by smallpox or acne.
  • Each pockmark told a story of survival.
• Pitted (adjective): A close synonym, especially for describing surfaces. It can also describe skin but is less specific to disease scars.
  • The pitted surface of the moon.

Synonyms

• For skin: Scarred, pitted, marked.
• For surfaces: Pitted, rutted, hole-ridden, uneven.

Related Idioms or Phrases

• To be pockmarked with: This phrase structure is commonly used to describe something that contains many instances of something undesirable.
  • The report was pockmarked with errors.
  • The landscape was pockmarked with craters from the bombardment.

Adjective

1. marked by or as if by smallpox or acne or other eruptive skin disease
2. used of paved surfaces having holes or pits