A dollop is a small, rounded lump of something soft, usually food. When you scoop ice cream onto a cone, that rounded blob is a dollop. When someone adds a dollop of whipped cream to their hot chocolate, they're plopping a soft, puffy mound on top.

The word almost always describes something thick and creamy: a dollop of sour cream on a baked potato, a dollop of yogurt in a bowl of fruit, or a dollop of mashed potatoes on your plate. You wouldn't use it for thin liquids like water or juice because a dollop has to hold its shape, at least for a moment.

The word itself sounds a bit playful and satisfying, like the soft plop sound the food makes when it lands. People sometimes use dollop for things that aren't food, like adding “a dollop of humor” to a speech, but that's less common. When you hear dollop, think of something soft, rounded, and generous, dropped onto something else with a pleasant little plop.