What does pocked mean?
Pocked is chiefly an adjective describing a surface covered or marked with small pits, hollows, or crater-like depressions. In its most familiar image, the Moon is pocked with craters; a face may be pocked by acne or another scarring condition, and metal can be pocked by corrosion. The word comes from pock, an older verb meaning to make or become marked with small pits, so pocked can also function as the past tense and past participle of that verb. In that grammatical use, the subject typically receives the marks: the panel was pocked by bullets. As an adjective, pocked often appears in the construction “pocked with,” which emphasizes marks distributed across a surface. The expression is vivid rather than technical, but it is standard in journalism, science writing, and descriptive prose. Its impact comes from suggesting a once-smooth or solid surface made irregular by repeated small impacts. Pocked therefore conveys both literal surface damage and, by extension, a scarred or imperfect appearance.
Covered or marked with small pits, hollows, or crater-like depressions.
"The spacecraft photographed a surface pocked with impact craters."
Most commonly used with “with,” especially in the pattern “pocked with holes” or “pocked with craters.”
To make or become marked with small pits or hollows; the past tense and past participle of pock.
"Bullets pocked the metal casing."
This is a relatively uncommon verb form and is now mainly encountered in descriptive or literary writing.
“Pocked” is where “pockmarked” begins: a surface becomes a record of every small impact.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does pocked come from?
Pocked is the regular past-tense and participial form of pock. Middle English pock and poken were used for a small pit or mark and for making or becoming marked with pits; the modern family continues in pockmark and pockmarked. Words such as pockful and pocket preserve a related small-container sense from the same wider Germanic vocabulary.
Related word forms
How pocked is actually used
The adjectival use is more common than the verbal use. It is especially natural in descriptive journalistic and literary contexts, while the verb is uncommon outside older or highly formal writing.