dung beetle
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of dung beetle
First recorded in 1625–35
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.
And when describing her underachieving brother’s shortcomings, she says, “He’s got the brains of a dung beetle and the ambitions of a French bureaucrat.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2025
Previously, a dung beetle and some hare remains had been the only signs of animal life at the site, Willerslev said.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 7, 2022
Epactoides giganteus — This dung beetle was newly described in 2021, based on a specimen collected on either Réunion Island or Madagascar in the 19th century and unseen since.
From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2022
After a dung beetle arrives on a dung pile, it painstakingly cobbles together a snowball of dung larger than itself.
From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2021
In my mind, in this moment I see a dung beetle, working with all its small might.
From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
