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

See Examples For:

booby prize

Croatia embraced the match in 2022 despite having gone one better in 2018 when they were runners-up to France - though Morocco head coach Walid Regragui described it as a "booby prize".

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

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

The booby prize, after all, had been the foundation of his success.

From Skookum Chuck Fables Bits of History, Through the Microscope by R. D. (Robert Dalziel) Cumming