wooden spoon

British

noun

a booby prize, esp in sporting contests

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Wales, who look set to finish with the annual rugby contest's wooden spoon having lost all four games in the tournament so far, are looking for a first home victory against Italy since 2020.

From BBC

Fourteen defeats in the tournament have followed with Wales looking to avoid a wooden spoon for a third successive year.

From BBC

He came to The Mountain to sell goods from The Kingdom—colorful threads, clay pots, and wooden spoons.

From Literature

Tomato sauce flies off her wooden spoon, splattering the chipped yellow cabinets.

From Literature

But, with a stellar generation of players heading into retirement, they have lost 11 straight Six Nations matches, with successive wooden spoon finishes to show from 2024 and 2025.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023