boondoggle
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.
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Critics called it a boondoggle, but WPA got millions of Americans back to work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
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
“This is turning out to be a bigger boondoggle than was originally sold to the public,” said Hahn, who said she had not been told about the upgrade costs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2025
Framed by million-dollar views and the multimillion dollar real estate of the Silversword Golf Course, the center seems like the ultimate scientific boondoggle.
From Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software by Sam Williams
And no rules at the Guardian, apparently, regarding outrageous boondoggles and ocean-going junkets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
Discovery CEO David Zaslav, in contrast with the preceding AT&T regime, has rejected big streaming movies as boondoggles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2022
These "boondoggles," as the report calls them, would harm local communities and exacerbate climate change, all while failing to solve the traffic and safety problems they claim to address.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2022
The Defense Department’s latest policy shift drew praise from Tom Slear, a 1973 graduate of West Point who has criticized the deals offered pro athletes as boondoggles, wasting educations paid for with public money.
From Washington Post ● May 5, 2017
The Underdowns don’t like to come out here in the boondoggles, so believe you me this was an occasion.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
“What’s the word — boondoggled? Hornswaggled?” the former mailman and Vietnam War veteran said with an easy chuckle while seated at a table off the deserted bar at the Hollywood Roosevelt on a recent afternoon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2016
How do you think this cautionary tale plays that such boondoggling won’t happen again?
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2019
I think that you can’t ever protect yourself from boondoggling.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2019
To many a hard-working businessman, scornful of boondoggling, the letters WPA mean We Putter Away.
From Time Magazine Archive
All U.S. good-neighborly schemes are not tainted with boondoggling.
From Time Magazine Archive
He knows what is boondoggling and what is not.
From The Armed Forces Officer Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-2 by United States. Dept. of Defense
Vocabulary lists containing boondoggle
100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
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This Week In Words: October 19–25, 2019
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Ben Zimmer's 30 Great American Words
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