as in unacceptable
falling short of a standard that's just a bush-league ploy to get cast on a TV reality show

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bush-league A lot of times, these bush-league but prolific lawbreakers basically got a warning, then another warning, then maybe a couple of months in county. Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2024 The script constitutes a string of bush-league errors we’re not supposed to care about, starting with the audience getting way, way out ahead of the characters regarding who’s hiding what. Michael Phillips, Twin Cities, 7 June 2024 What happened in the California state Assembly truly was a bush-league error. George Skelton, Los Angeles Times, 21 July 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bush-league
Adjective
  • Environmental groups have long opposed the new reservoir and objected to a shorter judicial review, saying the project will release unacceptable amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas, into the air in addition to other adverse impacts.
    Ari Plachta, Sacramento Bee, 28 Feb. 2025
  • The alternative — courts that fail to protect our fundamental rights — is unacceptable.
    Peter Martin, New York Daily News, 28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • As holidays go, however, Flag Day can feel a bit lame.
    Kevin Fisher-Paulson, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 June 2021
  • My 11-year-old loved watching the pups roll balls and play a giant floor piano, but for non-dog owners (guilty as charged), parts of the series—like dressing dogs in little hats and outfits for a Parisian fashion show—feel lame.
    Tim Neville, Outside Online, 23 Nov. 2020
Adjective
  • Recently, inflation has been moving in the wrong direction.
    Alain Sherter, CBS News, 7 Mar. 2025
  • Agency leaders must also be mindful of compliance—misleading ads not only attract the wrong people but also risk legal trouble.
    Arnold Sotelo, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • And another research team, using data from 2015 to 2022, observed in an article available in Energy Research and Social Science that poor income distribution correlates with social unrest when fossil fuel subsidies are removed.
    Aldo Flores-Quiroga, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2025
  • The board meeting featured a slideshow that indicated pre-sales of NASCAR Heat 5 were very poor, 27% behind NASCAR Heat 4 (the previous game in the series) at the same time in development.
    Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • The state of our budget and our debt is bad for the country and bad for working families.
    Charlotte Alter, TIME, 28 Feb. 2025
  • And if that wasn’t bad enough, in extremely rare circumstances, neurologic fallout from measles is delayed, showing up 7 to 10 years post-infection as subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a degenerative disease that is ultimately fatal, Dr. Lovins says.
    Erica Sloan, SELF, 28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • This is pathetic, as Russia would do everything in their power to interfere in that election.
    Dan Perry, Newsweek, 19 Feb. 2025
  • This character is just like me – funny and sad, tragic, pathetic and brave, emotionally available but all over the place.
    Stuart Miller, Orange County Register, 18 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Second, laser technology is deficient in energy, efficiency, and is too expensive.
    New Atlas, New Atlas, 23 Feb. 2025
  • Of course, soil can also be deficient in important nutrients.
    Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Thuney, who was traded to the Chicago Bears for a fourth-round pick in 2026, held up fairly well — even earning team MVP honors — until the disastrous Super Bowl LIX when Patrick Mahomes was sacked six times and hit five more.
    Jeff Fedotin, Forbes, 10 Mar. 2025
  • According to a study by Beacon Economics, this has been particularly disastrous for workers, ages 16 to 19.
    Matt Fleming, Orange County Register, 8 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Bush-league.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bush-league. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.

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