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:
Gardner-Johnson, former NFL quarterback and current Fox broadcaster Tom Brady offered this on-air analysis: “Poor awareness. Poor decision. Throws him a meatball sub.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
When the bill was first presented earlier this year, one group called it a "poisoned meatball".
From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025
As the company weighed buying an additional meatball stuffer, which speeds up the process of filling the meatball, another option emerged in Crown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2025
Developed in 1985 by Swedish chef Severin Sjöstedt, the meatball has been sold to hordes of fans ever since.
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2024
Jamie nods through a bite of meatball sub.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
Though he enjoys cooking—caviar pasta and tomato meatballs are go-to party recipes—Alas hates the smell of food.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
One slightly stranger favorite is ground beef mixed with minced mushrooms and a little mushroom gravy powder, which can become an excellent head start on stew, meatballs, meatloaf or cottage pie.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
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
Small meatballs cook faster, yes, but more importantly, they offer more browning surface area.
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2026
“How’s school?” his mom asked as she formed the meatballs and lined them up on a cookie sheet.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
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