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Synonyms

dung

American  
[duhng] / dʌŋ /

noun

  1. excrement, especially of animals; manure.

verb (used with object)

  1. to manure (ground) with or as if with dung.

dung British  
/ dʌŋ /

noun

    1. excrement, esp of animals; manure

    2. ( as modifier )

      dung cart

  2. something filthy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (tr) to cover (ground) with manure

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • dungy adjective

Etymology

Origin of dung

before 1000; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Low German, German dung; compare Icelandic dyngja heap, dung, Swedish dynga dung, muck, Old High German tunga manuring

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.

Government programmes have rapidly expanded LPG use for cooking in India, replacing kerosene and traditional biomass like firewood and dung.

From BBC • Mar. 19, 2026

Of particular concern are dung-feeding insects such as flies, dung beetles, and some butterflies.

From Science Daily • Feb. 22, 2026

Men dig in flip‑flops through dense black earth, "cow dung", as a young girl sitting on full sacks calls it.

From Barron's • Feb. 16, 2026

“Powdered stone worked. So did lizard’s blood and crocodile dung, and pig’s teeth and dolphin’s genitalia and frog’s sperm,” as psychologist Irving Kirsch later explained it.

From Slate • Jan. 30, 2026

“He says to tell you that you have been consigned to the dung heap of history while people like him ride in their limos down the superhighways of life. Something like that.”

From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

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.