makeweight
Americannoun
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something put on a scale to make up a required weight
-
an unimportant person or thing added to make up a lack
Etymology
Origin of makeweight
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.
As Manchester City launched its ultimately unsuccessful attempts to sign a marquee striker during the transfer window, one player was regularly touted as a makeweight in negotiations.
From Seattle Times
As recently as January, Chelsea looked like nothing more than makeweights in the Champions League.
From New York Times
But it offers a glimmer, too, to those ordinarily cast as makeweights that this year, perhaps, might just be a little less of a procession.
From New York Times
There are makeweights, for sure: Eat at Home, Smile Away, 3 Legs.
From The Guardian
From the moment the Champions League’s groups had been drawn in August, Group G had the look of the most finely-poised, the least predictable: no obvious favorite, no vast financial disparity, no doomed makeweights.
From New York Times
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.
