noun
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minced beef, shaped into a ball before cooking
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slang a stupid or boring person
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of meatball
Explanation
Those delicious, savory spheres on your spaghetti? They're meatballs, nuggets of ground meat, spices, and bread crumbs. If you take ground beef, mix in ingredients like torn bread, eggs, and seasoning, and shape it into individual balls, you've got meatballs. They can be fried, simmered, or baked, and you can use whatever tastes good and sticks together to make them. Ancient Chinese and Roman cuisines both included variations on the meatball, so we've been eating these for centuries. And if you know someone who's nice enough but not very smart, you might call them a meatball.
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:
When the bill was first presented earlier this year, one group called it a "poisoned meatball".
From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025
For him that means a tightly edited menu of classics like pepperoni, meatball and a white pie with mushrooms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025
The experience is pure Midwest and that includes the paired appetizers: a meatball slider, multiple mac and cheese dishes, pulled pork sliders and other hearty, stick-to-your-ribs fare.
From Salon ● Mar. 30, 2025
When Michael tosses him a meatball during a rest at a race transition, the dog starts following the team through jungle downpours, river crossings and ocean paddles, serving as both motivator and mascot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
Thankfully, the meatball sub had averted the impending Laleh-clysm.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
Many of Mr. Coppola’s recollections are sensory: roasted peppers, his grandma’s sizzling meatballs, a neighbor’s homemade wine sweetened with peaches—“smells and tastes that intoxicate me to this day.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Fold in the gnocchi and meatballs so every bite gets slicked in the sauce.
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2026
Small meatballs cook faster, yes, but more importantly, they offer more browning surface area.
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2026
She even surprised him with a bowl of spaghetti with meatballs topped with cheddar cheese during a recent fine-dining outing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
“It’s been a busy summer for the dive team. But I’m making meatballs for dinner.”
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
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.
