Also called graininess of halftones or grainy halftone dots, a printing defect characterized by a somewhat patterned unevenness of tone in halftone dots. Graininess is typically the result of non-uniform ink absorbency across a paper's surface, which can be caused by fluctuations in surface characteristics such as wild formation, inadequate smoothness, or incomplete coating on coated papers. Similar, less patterned defects are called breaks or, in gravure printing, skips, snow, or speckle.
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