Definition

Adjective: 1. Relating to or characterized by an obsessive interest in excrement and excretory functions: The word describes a focus on feces and bodily elimination, often in a crude, humorous, or shockingly detailed manner. 2. Characterized by obscenity that is derived from references to excrement: It can describe humor, language, or literature that uses such references for a prurient, vulgar, or comedic effect.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The comedian's scatological humor appealed to some audience members but disgusted others.
  • Some ancient Roman graffiti is surprisingly scatological in nature.
  • The film was criticized for its reliance on cheap, scatological jokes.

Advanced Usage

• In literary or artistic criticism: The term is used to analyze works that deliberately incorporate themes of waste, decay, and the baser bodily functions, sometimes for satirical or transgressive purposes.
  • The critic analyzed the scatological imagery in the novel as a metaphor for societal corruption.

Variants and Related Words

• Scatology (n): The study or analysis of excrement, especially in medicine or paleontology; more commonly, the preoccupation with excrement and excretory functions in literature or humor.
  • His research focused on the scatology of ancient diets.

Synonyms

• Excremental: Relating to excrement.
• Fecal: Relating to feces.
• Bawdy: Humorously vulgar; ribald (broader term, often inclusive of scatological themes).
• Rabelaisian: Coarsely and robustly humorous, often dealing with bodily functions (named after the writer François Rabelais).

Antonyms

• Refined: Elegant and cultured in appearance, manner, or taste.
• Decorous: In keeping with good taste and propriety; polite and restrained.
• Clean: Free from vulgarity or obscenity.

Adjective

1. dealing pruriently with excrement and excretory functions
   • scatological literature