dodo

American  

[doh-doh] / ˈdoʊ doʊ /

noun

dodos, plural dodoes plural

1. 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.

2. Slang. a dull-witted, slow-reacting person.

3. a person with old-fashioned, conservative, or outmoded ideas.

4. a thing that is outmoded or obsolete.

---

dodo British  

/ ˈdəʊdəʊ /

noun

1. 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

2. informal an intensely conservative or reactionary person who is unaware of changing fashions, ideas, etc

3. (of a person or thing) irretrievably defunct or out of date

---

dodo Idioms  

1. see under dead as a doornail.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• dodoism
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• dodoes
  plural
• dodos
  plural

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

See Examples For:

dodo dodoes dodos

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

The Hall of Extinction and Hope analogizes manmade climate change and habitat destruction to a slow-moving asteroid that has already obliterated species such as the passenger pigeon, dodo and great auk.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 2, 2025

But with the pension going the way of the dodo, planning and saving for retirement isn't your employer's problem anymore.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2024

Yeah, so did the dodo bird, the passenger pigeon, Vanilla Ice...

From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick

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

Another challenge for de-extinction is ensuring the well-being of the genetically engineered dodoes.

From Scientific American ● Jan. 31, 2023

Yet not much is known about how dodoes functioned in their ecosystem.

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 Long, William Joseph

But is lab-grown meat really likely to put mammoths, dodos and other exotica on the menu?

From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2023

“Here is where we hunt the dodos, if necessary.”

From Washington Post ● Feb. 3, 2023

She asks what’s the difference between “a tomb and a museum” with taxidermized dodos.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 23, 2022

I found that the island has a small airport, run by dodos: I am saved!

From Slate ● Apr. 7, 2020

But the ghost of Salim, like the dodos, lords and crew of the Mary Celeste, vanished before we reached nine o’clock.

From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd

Related Words

• clodpoll