scatological
Britishadjective
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characterized by obscenity or preoccupation with obscenity, esp in the form of references to excrement
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of or relating to the scientific study of excrement
Explanation
Anything scatological is "off-color" or a bit offensive, typically because it refers to excrement, especially in a joking way. This is a word that describes a kind of immature humor you sometimes encounter in movies or TV shows. Scatological humor is of questionable taste, but it's not quite obscene. Your little brother who thinks toilet jokes are hilarious? You can say that he's a fan of scatological humor.
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.
Vance has publicly criticised the extremists, at one point using a scatological insult against Fuentes during an interview with website Unherd.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
Not to be TMI here, but I find myself sometimes if I get anxious or uncomfortable I’ll make scatological noises.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2023
Madani’s work is like a truant love child of scatological transgressions by the late Mike Kelley and the feminist media smarts of artist Barbara Kruger.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2022
It’s also heavy on scatological jokes, delivered with watch-setting regularity.
From New York Times ● May 26, 2022
The importance which scatological rites and ceremonials, that is, certain peculiar niceties practiced in connection with the emptying of the bowels, play in the evolution of the race have been extensively discussed in literature.
From Studies in Forensic Psychiatry by Bernard Glueck
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.
