dingo
Americannoun
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a wolflike, wild dog, Canis familiaris dingo, of Australia, having a reddish- or yellowish-brown coat.
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Australian. a cowardly or treacherous person.
noun
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a wild dog, Canis dingo, of Australia, having a yellowish-brown coat and resembling a wolf
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slang a cheat or coward
verb
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to act in a cowardly manner
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to drop out of something
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(foll by on) to let (someone) down
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dingo
First recorded in 1789, dingo is from the Dharuk word din-gu tame dingo
Explanation
A dingo is a wild Australian dog, a very distant relative of the pup curled up on your sofa. Dingoes are sometimes called "singing dogs" for the wide variety of howls they use to communicate. Dingoes have lived in Australia for at least 3,500 years, and they're the largest carnivorous mammal on the continent (besides humans). These medium-sized brown and white dogs live and hunt in family groups, preying on rabbits, small rodents, and helping to control some invasive species like the red fox. Dingo comes from the Native Australian Dharruk language, meaning "tame dog."
Vocabulary lists containing dingo
Australia and New Zealand - Introductory
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Australia and New Zealand - Middle School and High School
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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:
Earlier investigations had found "extensive post-mortem dingo bite marks" and that it was "not likely" that pre-mortem dingo bites had caused "immediate death".
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026
"Pre-mortem dingo bite marks are not likely to have caused immediate death," said a spokesperson for the Coroners Court of Queensland.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
Altadena was where people raised chickens before it was trendy, where no one batted an eye at the neighbors with a pet dingo, or thought much about the so-called haunted road said to defy gravity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2026
It's said that a dog is a man's best friend, but the wild dingo is much maligned in Australia.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2023
There is no evidence of any new technology or introduction reaching Australia from Indonesia, after Australia’s initial colonization 40,000 years ago, until the dingo appeared around 1500 B.C.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
About 200 dingoes live on K'Gari and are protected as a native species by law.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026
Australian authorities have sparked a backlash by killing a group of dingoes linked to the death of a young Canadian woman on an island in the country's east.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
A Canadian backpacker, who was found dead on an Australian beach and surrounded by a pack of dingoes earlier this week, likely died of drowning, an autopsy has found.
From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2026
They’re threatened by conflict with humans, dogs and dingoes and a disease called Devil Facial Tumor Disease that only affects the species.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2025
But the biggest of the dingoes had once stolen half a sheep from a shepherd's humpy, and no disaster had overtaken him.
From Finn The Wolfhound by Buxton, Robert Hugh
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.
