How to Use boondoggle in a Sentence

boondoggle

noun
  • Critics say the dam is a complete boondoggle—over budget, behind schedule, and unnecessary.
  • Your bills are going to go up to pay for this boondoggle.
    — Edmund H. Mahony, Hartford Courant, 7 Mar. 2026
  • When all is said and done, that wisecrack may be the best thing to come out of this boondoggle.
    — Ben Joravsky, Chicago Reader, 18 June 2018
  • But by the eighth episode, the gang is all back together again for one last boondoggle.
    — Phillip MacIak, The New Republic, 27 Sep. 2023
  • That’s just the point — no one will be accountable for this huge boondoggle.
    — Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, 23 Jan. 2017
  • No government funds should be spent on this boondoggle.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Trump’s instinct that this is a boondoggle is correct.
    — New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 16 Feb. 2026
  • The judges were not somebody’s nephew on a boondoggle but were, for the most part, their countries’ best legal minds.
    — Foreign Affairs, 20 Oct. 2023
  • These tips will help pick the right plunge for you, and avoid the oil-leaking boondoggle of your wallet’s worst nightmares.
    — Dennis Tang, GQ, 30 June 2017
  • But that’s always the juice that allows politicians to call one thing a boondoggle and another a boon.
    — John Archibald | [email protected], al, 4 Feb. 2020
  • None of this will placate cynics who see the entire exercise as a boondoggle.
    — John King, SFChronicle.com, 26 Aug. 2019
  • There’s not so much as a glance in the direction of the electric-vehicle boondoggle.
    — Matthew Continetti, National Review, 8 June 2024
  • Sounds like the perfect boondoggle and a chance to get out of Maryland rather than deal with the problems right at his front door.
    — Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 1 Apr. 2025
  • But why limit our investigations to bad deals from the past when there are so many new boondoggles on the horizon?
    — Ben Joravsky, Chicago Reader, 21 May 2018
  • A lot of money, but still less than the boondoggles at either the Healey hotels or out on the Pike.
    — Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Several council members have called the project a boondoggle that needs more vetting.
    — Dallas News, 27 May 2020
  • Bailing out those who have done so much damage to their states and our country already would be a boondoggle of epic proportions.
    — Rick Scott, National Review, 12 Dec. 2020
  • While their jaw-dropping shapes awed the crowd in attendance, their debut was a last-minute boondoggle that could have ended in a no-show.
    — Basem Wasef, Robb Report, 12 Mar. 2021
  • While such bond debt is retired not by tax funds but airport revenues only, the idea smacked to some of a government boondoggle.
    — Bill Turque and Steve Vockrodt, kansascity, 8 Feb. 2018
  • That is the definition of a boondoggle.
    — Eve Samples, The Orlando Sentinel, 12 June 2026
  • The whole thing has been a disgraceful boondoggle, even by government standards.
    — Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
  • And this creates the Titans' boondoggle.
    — Nick Suss, Nashville Tennessean, 8 Dec. 2025
  • Meanwhile, the projects that China has announced have often turned into boondoggles or dead ends.
    — Ian Johnson, Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2022
  • The high-speed rail project has been a boondoggle for years and by continuing to fund it, the state is simply throwing good money after bad.
    — Wayne Winegarden, Oc Register, 1 Feb. 2026
  • Data also push back against the notion that PSLF is a boondoggle for the elite.
    — Shahar Ziv, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2025
  • Which brings us to the question of whether this is the worst such boondoggle in world history — and to Ferdinand de Lesseps.
    — U T Editorial Board, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Sep. 2025
  • That might not seem like such a boondoggle in New York City, where annual tuition is often four times that.
    — Ginia Bellafante, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2017
  • These stadium boondoggles are always bad for the taxpayers.
    — Jon Greenberg, New York Times, 2 June 2026
  • That’s a tough argument to make when $1 billion per year for the next 20 years is directed to the high-speed rail boondoggle.
    — Jon Coupal, Oc Register, 19 Sep. 2025
  • The Rose Quarter is the second-cheapest project included on the group’s boondoggle list.
    — oregonlive.com, 18 June 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'boondoggle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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