wooden spoonist
- noun
- /ˈwʊdən ˈspuːnɪst/
- UK
:
último en la competición
- He was dubbed the wooden spoonist after finishing last in the annual chess tournament.
Examples
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The student proudly accepted the wooden spoonist award at the university's fun sports day.
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Although they were the wooden spoonist this season, the team kept their spirits high.
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He was the last to finish, earning the title of wooden spoonist.
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Don't worry about being a wooden spoonist this time!
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He was dubbed the wooden spoonist after finishing last in the annual chess tournament.
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Although they were the wooden spoonist this season, the team kept their spirits high.
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The student proudly accepted the wooden spoonist award at the university's fun sports day.
Antonyms
How Successful
Surface Forms
Morphology
wooden + spoonist
The sense ‘person who finishes last’ depends on the cultural idiom “wooden spoon” (an award for last place) rather than a transparent composition of morphemes; the second constituent 'spoonist' is nonce/rare and not recoverable from its parts. A B1 learner who only knows the literal meanings of 'wooden' and 'spoon' (and not the idiom) would not reliably infer this figurative meaning, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
Wooden spoonist comes from the old playful prize, the wooden spoon, a simple wooden spoon given to the person or team who finished last. One popular story says clubs and universities handed out this funny 'award' for last place, so a wooden spoonist is someone who 'finishes last'.