dodo
Americannoun
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dodos,
plural
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dodoes
plural
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any of several clumsy, flightless, extinct birds of the genera Raphus and Pezophaps, related to pigeons but about the size of a turkey, formerly inhabiting the islands of Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodriguez.
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Slang. a dull-witted, slow-reacting person.
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a person with old-fashioned, conservative, or outmoded ideas.
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a thing that is outmoded or obsolete.
noun
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any flightless bird, esp Raphus cucullatus, of the recently extinct family Raphidae of Mauritius and adjacent islands: order Columbiformes (pigeons, etc). They had a hooked bill, short stout legs, and greyish plumage See also ratite
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informal an intensely conservative or reactionary person who is unaware of changing fashions, ideas, etc
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(of a person or thing) irretrievably defunct or out of date
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dodo
First recorded in 1620–30, dodo is from the Portuguese word doudo, fool, madman (of uncertain origin); the bird apparently so called from its clumsy appearance
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Scientists cannot determine exact behavior from anatomy alone, but these findings provide new clues about how the dodo may have located food and interacted with its island habitat.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026
Colossal’s latest announcement was that it has hatched 26 chickens in an “artificial egg” — a “foundational step,” it said, “toward resurrecting extinct bird species” such as the New Zealand giant moa and the dodo.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
Now if the last remaining hereditary peers play their cards right, they could endure another Labour prime minister and delay their destiny to go the way of the dodo.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
I came across exactly one ultra-rare single-zero roulette wheel on the Strip, which felt a little bit like uncovering the hutch of the last surviving dodo.
From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2025
“Remember, Incorrigibles: You have important responsibilities today, which you will shortly learn more about. There will be no time for dodo sitting,” she said.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
Yet not much is known about how dodoes functioned in their ecosystem.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 31, 2023
Another challenge for de-extinction is ensuring the well-being of the genetically engineered dodoes.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 31, 2023
The dodoes, which reproduced by laying a single egg on the ground, were also predated by other species, such as monkeys and rats, which humans brought with them.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 31, 2023
Banked with mock turtles, dodoes, lories, red and white queens, mad hatters, March hares and hookah-smoking caterpillars, she manages to make them as real as she is by making herself as unreal as they are.
From Time Magazine Archive
So with Quilp, Toots, Squeers, Pumblechook; so with giraffes, baboons, dodoes, dromedaries,—all are freaks from the æsthetic viewpoint, but think of the overflowing energy implied in creating them!
From Outlines of English and American Literature : an Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They Lived by William Joseph Long
But is lab-grown meat really likely to put mammoths, dodos and other exotica on the menu?
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2023
She asks what’s the difference between “a tomb and a museum” with taxidermized dodos.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 23, 2022
The other drawing was of two birds that looked like dodos.
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 2022
I found that the island has a small airport, run by dodos: I am saved!
From Slate ● Apr. 7, 2020
“I’d think it was a dodo, only dodos are extinct. This will make an elegant picture, if I can ever get her to turn around.”
From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater
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