boondoggle
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 27 April 2026
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 27, 2026 is:
boondoggle • \BOON-dah-gul\ • noun
A boondoggle is an expensive and wasteful project usually paid for with public money. Boondoggle is also a word for a braided cord worn by Boy Scouts as a neckerchief slide, hatband, or ornament.
// Critics say the dam is a complete boondoggle—over budget, behind schedule, and unnecessary.
Examples:
"A controversial proposal to construct a new bridge from Bridgeport to Long Island is either a bold, visionary step into the future or an unaffordable boondoggle that could cost more than $50 billion." — Christopher Keating, The Hartford (Connecticut) Courant, 8 Mar. 2026
Did you know?
When boondoggle popped up in the early 1900s, lots of people tried to explain where the word came from. One theory traced it to an Ozarkian word for "gadget," while another related it to the Tagalog word that gave us boondocks. Another hypothesis suggested that boondoggle came from the name of leather toys Daniel Boone supposedly made for his dog. But the only theory that is supported by evidence is much simpler. In the 1920s, Robert Link, a scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America, apparently coined the word to name the braided leather cords made and worn by scouts. The word came to prominence when such a boondoggle was presented to the Prince of Wales at the 1929 World Jamboree, and it's been with us ever since. Over time, it developed the additional sense describing a wasteful or impractical project.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day for April 27th. |
| 0:10.0 | Today's word is boondoggle, spelled B-O-O-O-N-D-O-G-L-E. |
| 0:19.0 | Boondoggle is a noun. A boondoggle is an expensive and wasteful project usually paid for |
| 0:25.7 | with public money. Boondoggle is also a word for a braided cord worn by Boy Scouts as a neckerchief |
| 0:32.8 | slide, hatband, or ornament. Here's the word used in a sentence from the Hartford current. A controversial |
| 0:40.2 | proposal to construct a new bridge from Bridgeport to Long Island is either a bold visionary step into |
| 0:47.0 | the future or an unaffordable boondoggle that could cost more than $50 billion. When boondogel popped up in the early 1900s, |
| 0:57.9 | lots of people tried to explain where the word came from. |
| 1:01.5 | One theory traced it to an Ozarkian word for gadget, |
| 1:05.7 | while another related to the Tagalog word that gave us the word boondocks. |
| 1:14.5 | Another hypothesis suggested that Boondogel came from the name of leather toys Daniel Boone supposedly made for his dog. But the only |
| 1:21.3 | theory that is supported by evidence is much simpler. In the 1920s, Robert Link, a scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America, |
| 1:30.5 | apparently coined the word to name the braided leather cords made and worn by scouts. The word |
| 1:37.3 | came to prominence when such a boondoggle was presented to the Prince of Wales at the |
| 1:42.6 | 1989 World Jamboree. And it's been with us ever since. |
| 1:48.1 | Over time, it developed the additional sense describing a wasteful or impractical project. |
| 1:53.9 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
| 2:00.4 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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