boondoggle
Americannoun
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a wasteful and worthless project undertaken for political, corporate, or personal gain, typically a government project funded by taxpayers.
Is high-speed rail a valuable addition to infrastructure, or a boondoggle?
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work of little or no value done merely to keep or look busy.
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a product of simple manual skill, as a plaited leather cord for the neck or a knife sheath, made typically by a camper or a scout.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
noun
Usage
What does boondoggle mean? A boondoggle is a government project considered to have little purpose or value and to be a waste of taxpayer money.More generally, it can refer to any work done simply to look busy. These senses of the word are based on its original, literal meaning: a decorative but otherwise useless cord of braided leather or plastic (or another such handicraft) stereotypically made by Scouts.Boondoggle can also be used as a verb meaning to deceive. All senses of the word are primarily used in the U.S. and Canada.Example: Critics called the mayor’s proposal for a tech hub nothing more than a boondoggle to please his political donors.
Other Word Forms
- boondoggler noun
Etymology
Origin of boondoggle
An Americanism dating back to 1930–35; of unknown origin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Was it an exciting new form of entertainment, or a boondoggle?
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026
He vehemently denied that the United States was entering into another long-term boondoggle in the Middle East.
From Salon • Mar. 2, 2026
Organizers sought not only to remind the world that the Olympics were about joie de vivre, but also that the project didn’t need to be a $50 billion boondoggle.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026
They’ve called the tunnel a boondoggle that would harm the Delta and its deteriorating ecosystem, and have argued the project would saddle ratepayers with high costs.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2024
The United States has not embarked upon its formidable program of space exploration in order to make or perpetuate a gigantic astronautic boondoggle.
From The Practical Values of Space Exploration Report of the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Eighty-Sixth Congress, Second Session by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Astronautics.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
