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Glite Dictionary
🙅 Unprofessional ⚾ A minor league
bush league

bush league

1 8.9
A low-level baseball league often used to describe something of lower quality
  • noun
  • /bʊʃ liɡ/
  • Slang
translation icon : liga menor
  • Using outdated equipment like that is really bush league for a professional organization.

Examples

  • He spent his first few years playing in the bush league before making it to the majors.

  • The team was embarrassed to be part of a bush league.

  • Some critics dismissed the new team as strictly bush league in their performance.

  • Is this really a bush league operation?

  • The team's performance was so poor that many fans considered their play to be bush league.

  • His attempt at telling a joke was truly bush league, failing to amuse anyone in the audience.

  • After the amateur artist's latest exhibition, critics labeled his work as bush league, lacking the depth and skill of seasoned professionals.

Synonyms

minor league
vsbush league
  • US
49 3.0

A group of sports teams that play below the top professional level

is also used figuratively to call something unsophisticated or of lower quality
minors
vsbush league
  • US
1 4.8

Professional sports leagues below the major leagues, often in baseball

is also used figuratively to call something unsophisticated or of lower quality

Antonyms

major league
81 3.4

The highest level of professional sport where the best players play

How Professional

major league
81 3.4
bush league
  • Slang
1 8.9
non-league
  • UK
4.3

Surface Forms

bush league singular
bush leagues plural
bush-leagues plural
bush-league singular

Morphology

bush + league

The literal meanings of 'bush' (shrub, rural area) and 'league' (sports organization or level) do not directly yield the evaluative sense 'inferior or amateurish' for a B1 learner; understanding the phrase requires cultural/sports-specific knowledge about low-level 'bush' leagues. The connection is an idiomatic, metaphorical extension rather than straightforward composition, so learners who only know the constituent words are unlikely to derive the meaning.

Etymology

The noun bush league comes from baseball in small countryside towns: bush meant the countryside and league was a group of teams that played there. These teams had poor fields and little money, so bush league came to mean 'minor league' or something of lower quality.