junk job
- noun
- /dʒʌŋk dʒɑb/
- Informal
:
trabajo basura
- After years of working a junk job, she finally decided to pursue her dreams and switch careers.
I mean, for a while I used Hollywood as my junk job to write My Autobiography.
- I mean, for a while I used Hollywood as my junk job to write My Autobiography.
Examples
-
I mean, for a while I used Hollywood as my junk job to write My Autobiography.
-
Many recent graduates feel stuck in a junk job that offers no career advancement.
-
He was unhappy because his junk job left him feeling unfulfilled and undervalued.
Synonyms
8
3.7
A job where you cannot get a better position
1
9.9
A job that feels pointless and gives no real value
How Undesirable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'low-status or undesirable job' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'junk' (worthless, discarded) as a modifier with 'job' (position for pay): an attributive composition that straightforwardly yields 'a worthless job'. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows regular adjective+noun semantics, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
The noun junk job comes from junk meaning 'trash' and job meaning 'work'. Imagine doing work that feels like sorting broken things or handling trash; it feels low value and boring, so the phrase means 'a low-status or undesirable job'.