boondoggle
14
9.9
- noun
- /ˈbunˌdɒɡəl/
- Literature
:
proyecto inútil
- Many criticized the environmental impact study as a government boondoggle that wasted taxpayer money without producing any real results.
- the biggest boondoggle
- dollar boondoggle
- an expensive boondoggle
Here in California, we have a huge boondoggle called the high speed rail that seems to be going nowhere despite, you know, a huge price tag.
- Here in California, we have a huge boondoggle called the high speed rail that seems to be going nowhere despite, you know, a huge price tag.
Examples
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Here in California, we have a huge boondoggle called the high speed rail that seems to be going nowhere despite, you know, a huge price tag.
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The construction of the new parking garage turned out to be a costly boondoggle that the city could not justify.
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As a boondoggle that had no real connection with the problems of American industry.
Fiction book (1995) -
How many of them in the farm belt want the ethanol boondoggle ended?
Blog text (19) -
The economic effects of the loans have gone much further than the individual boondoggles that they financed.
Academic text (1992) -
The 1995 Congressional budget zeroed out the entire Commerce Department as a giant boondoggle aiding business.
Academic text (1995) -
As a result, industrial policy usually translates into taxpayer-supported boondoggles.
Academic text (1993) -
Now Governor Daugaard wants to expand a budget-busting boondoggle without protections against pay-to-play and kickbacks, said Hunhoff.
Blog text (10) -
The committee's proposal for a luxury golf course on public land was seen as just another boondoggle to line the pockets of developers.
Synonyms
126
2.7
An activity that takes time but does not help you
12
7.2
A task that has no chance of success
4
3.9
An activity that uses your time but does not help you
3
6.3
Tasks that keep you busy but have little real value
1
8.4
Tasks given mainly to keep someone busy instead of producing useful results
1
3.8
An action that uses time and energy but gives no useful result
A silly, useless work meeting or task that achieves nothing
Antonyms
How Wasteful
Surface Forms
Etymology
Boondoggle originally named a small, decorative braided cord made by Boy Scouts, a craft that looked like 'busy work'. Because these cords seemed like work with little use, people began to call wasteful or showy projects 'boondoggles', so the word now means a pointless or wasteful activity.