booby prize

American  

noun

1. a prize given in good-natured ridicule to the worst player or team in a game or contest.

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booby prize British  

noun

1. a mock prize given to the person having the lowest score or giving the worst performance in a competition

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Etymology

Origin of booby prize

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

I really appreciate it in the book that you were not going to talk about becoming the "wise, sage woman" like it's some kind of booby prize.

From Salon • May 6, 2023

I think that the situation is exactly the opposite, and that a “diminished” girl does not go running through the town, under so many horse noses, to find a booby prize.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 20, 2018

Any other week, “Gettin’ the Band Back Together” would have locked up Broadway’s booby prize, but it looks positively adequate by comparison with “Pretty Woman.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Aug. 17, 2018

Manchester City’s League Cup triumph means the division’s sixth-placed finishers are likely to qualify for the continent’s booby prize that is the Europa League.

From The Guardian • Mar. 14, 2016

She would never have taken a prize at a cat show, unless it might have been the booby prize.

From The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 20, March 25, 1897 A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls by Various