bush league
noun
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bush league
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bush-league
bush-leagueadjectiveinferior or amateurish; mediocre.
bush league
1 Americannoun
Baseball.
bush-league
2
American
[boosh-leeg]
/ ˈbʊʃˌlig /
adjective
Etymology
Origin of bush league1
An Americanism dating back to 1905–10
Origin of bush-league2
An Americanism dating back to 1905–10
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:
It was so bush league to see the Lakers crowd around the beleagued referees at the end of an 18-point loss to the Thunder in Game 2.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2026
But in a bush league snub, he chooses to be Commissioner Rob, not Commissioner Bob.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2025
There was no criticism or negative viewpoint, however, from the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner for Clark despite her committing the bush league act on Reese.
From Salon ● May 28, 2025
While creative, his move drew the ire of plenty of current and former college and pro players who viewed the "gotcha" moment as bush league.
From Fox News ● Dec. 10, 2021
And who's this gumshoe guy from the bush league tailin' us?
From The Big-Town Round-Up by William MacLeod Raine
What happened in the California state Assembly truly was a bush-league error.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
In a column, The Chicago Tribune’s film critic, Michael Phillips, called Sightline “a bush-league pickpocket move” and “the latest tiny nail getting tap-tap-tapped into the coffin currently under construction for an entire era of filmgoing.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 5, 2023
What he’s giving them in return is a strange, bush-league, pull-it-out-of-your-ear, always-indulge-your-emotions campaign.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2016
I don’t care how married to him you are, that’s a bush-league move.
From Slate ● Mar. 8, 2016
And he had not forgotten a good turn Blume had done him back in his bush-league days.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
