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
The dung beetle, which disperses seeds as it rolls its dung balls, fertilizing topsoil and enhancing biodiversity and engineering its environment, normally orients itself using the Milky Way and the moon.
From Salon • Apr. 15, 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
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
“Not even a dung beetle would want to push that old ball of caca around, much less hold on to it. Mamá should have sold it a long time ago.”
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
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.
