Boondoggle

//ˈbuːndɒɡl̩// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A braided ring to hold a neckerchief.
  2. 2
    work of little or no value done merely to look busy wordnet
  3. 3
    A waste of time or money; a pointless activity. Canada, US, figuratively, usually

    "Opponents consider this another billion-dollar government boondoggle."

  4. 4
    A non-work trip away from a research station. slang

    "A non-work excursion away from the station in US Antarctic English is a “boondoggle”, or a “jolly” for the Britons."

Verb
  1. 1
    To waste time on a pointless activity. intransitive
  2. 2
    do useless, wasteful, or trivial work wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
wogglewoggle

Example

More examples

"The project is over budget and unnecessary. It is a complete boondoggle."

Etymology

Coined by American scout leader Robert H. Link in 1929; alternatively “boon doggle”. Compare woggle of similar sense, which is attested in the same period. In the sense of a “wasteful government program”, popularized in 1935 by The New York Times, in reference to New Deal programs which were claimed to feature people making such braids.

Related phrases

white elephant

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.