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.
Disrespected and disregarded, jeered by fans and dismissed by managers, he was eventually used as a makeweight in a player exchange with second-tier Sao Paulo side Mogi Mirim.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2021
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 ● Sep. 14, 2021
For many readers they’re makeweight puffery, eminently skippable, a lot of throat-clearing and flapdoodle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2019
They did get winger Antonio Núñez as part of the deal but he proved to be a makeweight on the pitch too.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 15, 2015
There was a circumstance, just after we came on board this evening, that is extremely suspicious, and which may be set down at once as a makeweight against this lad.
From Pathfinder; or, the inland sea by James Fenimore Cooper
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.
