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)
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boondoggles,
present (3rd person singular)
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boondoggled,
past participle, past
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boondoggling
present participle
verb (used without object)
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boondoggles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
boondoggled,
past participle, past
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boondoggling
present participle
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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boondogglesimple
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boondogglessimple
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have boondoggledperfect
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has boondoggledperfect
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am boondogglingprogressive
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are boondogglingprogressive
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is boondogglingprogressive
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have been boondogglingperfect progressive
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has been boondogglingperfect progressive
Past
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boondoggledsimple
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had boondoggledperfect
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was boondogglingprogressive
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were boondogglingprogressive
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had been boondogglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of boondoggle
An Americanism dating back to 1930–35; of unknown origin
Explanation
A boondoggle is a useless, trivial piece of work — it's a waste of time. If you're serious about your career, you should avoid boondoggles. Boondoggle is a silly sounding word for a silly project. Any endeavor that's a total waste of time or has no value could be called a boondoggle, especially if you're doing it just to look busy and important. The verb boondoggle means to do that useless work. If the mayor spends all his time promoting an eagle reserve in the middle of the Bronx instead of focusing on subway repairs, you could call that a boondoggle.
Vocabulary lists containing boondoggle
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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.
See Examples For:
I thought the rejection was the right call, because the proposal struck me as a private boondoggle, with no designated customer for the water and a slurry of environmental hazards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 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
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
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.
And no rules at the Guardian, apparently, regarding outrageous boondoggles and ocean-going junkets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
He’s played no more than 58 games in any of the four seasons since signing a seven-year, $245-million contract, calling to mind previous boondoggles Josh Hamilton, Vernon Wells and Albert Pujols.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2023
I want to know about the boondoggles and the scandalous demolitions and the gems; the engineering follies and the perfect streets; the gargoyles and the starchitects and the bars with walls like old gorgonzola.
From Slate ● Dec. 8, 2022
And triumphs such as “Hamilton” and boondoggles like “King Kong.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2022
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
General theme: Chicago is a shoddy place to live, because of cupidity, stupidity, boondoggling and apathy.
From Time Magazine Archive
Frayn's greatest comic invention is to take a horde of thirsty European journalists on a boondoggling press junket to the Near East.
From Time Magazine Archive
Walter, do you remember when the one thing in the world that made you maddest was boondoggling.
From U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1969 July - December by Library of Congress. Copyright Office
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.
