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Glite Dictionary
🗑️ A dirty state 💩 A pile of dung
dunghill

dunghill

1 9.8
A place or situation people think is dirty and shameful
  • noun
  • /ˈdʌŋˌhɪl/
  • Informal
translation icon : situation degradante
  • To him, the city had turned into a dunghill, filled with pollution and neglect.

Examples

  • And the king, Nebuchadnezzar, answered and said to the Chaldeans, "I recall not my dream; if you will not make known to me my dream and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and of your tents shall be made a dunghill."

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Evil is a dunghill, Mr. Angel.

    Angel Heart (1987)

  • Go back to the dunghill of your failed philosophy and moronic infighting.

    Blog text (34)

  • On shipboard, he worried over the circumstances of some "dunghill fowls" the other passengers had brought on board "for eating." (n80)

    Academic text (2007)

  • He felt like he was living on a dunghill after losing his job and facing constant criticism.

  • Her once bright career had dwindled to a dunghill of missed opportunities and poor choices.

Synonyms

scumminess
vsdunghill
  • Offensive
8.6

A state of being dirty or bad in a moral way, for example a filthy place

is a judged social state seen as dirty and contemptible
soilage
vsdunghill
  • Archaic
9.1

Dirt or mess that makes something dirty

is a judged degraded state including contempt rather than only physical dirt
cesspit of trash
vsdunghill
  • Informal
8.6

A place that is very dirty and full of trash and bad smells

is an abstract judged condition rather than a physical dirty place
complete shitheap
vsdunghill
  • Offensive
9.9

Something in very bad condition and nearly falling apart

is about being judged dirty, degraded, or contemptible rather than structural decay

Antonyms

dignity
398 3.2

Calm, respectful behaviour that shows self-respect in hard times

respectability
19 4.6

Being seen by other people as proper and having a good name

Surface Forms

dunghill singular
dunghills plural

Morphology

dunghill = dung + hill (semi-transparent) = dung + hill

This sense is a figurative extension of the literal compound to describe a degraded or contemptible state; the components suggest the metaphor but the meaning is idiomatic.

Etymology

Dunghill comes from the words dung 'manure' and hill 'small mound', so it first meant a dirty heap. By that strong image, people began to call a place or situation that is very dirty, low, or shameful a 'dunghill', which is why it now has that figurative meaning.