meatball

American  

[meet-bawl] / ˈmitˌbɔl /

noun

1. Cooking. a small ball of ground meat, especially beef, often mixed with breadcrumbs, seasonings, etc., before cooking.

2. Slang. an awkward, clumsy, or ineffectual person.

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meatball British  

/ ˈmiːtˌbɔːl /

noun

1. minced beef, shaped into a ball before cooking

2. slang a stupid or boring person

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Etymology

Origin of meatball

First recorded in 1830–40; meat + ball ¹

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

When the bill was first presented earlier this year, one group called it a "poisoned meatball".

From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025

Ohtani quickly erased that deficit, getting a first-pitch meatball from Domínguez that he launched again the other way into the left-field seats.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 28, 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

This turned into an "everything but the kitchen sink"-type scenario, in which I also tossed in some ingredients that wouldn't normally be included in a plain ol' soy-glazed meatball.

From Salon • Feb. 26, 2024

“You want a meatball sandwich like that, Malc?”

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti