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 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
  • Shapiro told reporters at a news conference on April 16 that regardless of the motivation for the crime, political violence must be condemned as unacceptable in our society.
    Riley Beggin, USA Today, 18 Apr. 2025
  • Any format that builds in a conflict of interest is unacceptable.
    Robert Greene, Mercury News, 16 Apr. 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
  • But even one in three Republicans said their cost of living was on the wrong track, according to the poll, which surveyed 4,306 U.S. adults nationwide between April 16 and April 21.
    Jason Lange, USA Today, 25 Apr. 2025
  • For the past two decades, a majority of voters have almost without interruption said the country is on the wrong track, through multiple presidential administrations from different parties.
    Jared Gans, The Hill, 24 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Some parents worry that Alexa's high tolerance for rudeness instills poor behavior in their kids, according to Quartz.
    Emily Forlini, PC Magazine, 18 Apr. 2025
  • Then someone pointed a finger at a surprising culprit: the soldiers’ poor health.
    Maxim Sytch, Harvard Business Review, 18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • President Donald Trump intends to completely reimagine U.S. trade relations with our closest partners and fiercest rivals, for better or worse.
    Charles Singh, USA Today, 30 Apr. 2025
  • As an attempt to derive meaning from a meaningless phrase —which was, after all, the user's request—that's not half bad.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 29 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Read more The pathetic, slow-motion downfall of Barack Obama Houseguests and fish begin to smell after three days, as the saying goes.
    Aris Folley, The Hill, 17 Apr. 2025
  • Regression was fair to expect, but man did the Canucks just look offensively pathetic most of the year.
    Dom Luszczyszyn, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • The Mount Zion Road/Columbia Hollow bridge was part of the 2017 county bridge plan to replace 15 bridges deemed structurally deficient by the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 9 Apr. 2025
  • The formula includes vitamin D, another nutrient that many are deficient in, which can boost immunity, support bone health and promote a healthy gut microbiome.
    Emily Burns, WWD, 7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Or, even more recently, the disastrous April 8 update to protect against the CVE-2025-21204 vulnerability that installed a mysterious folder, and got everyone’s collective conspiracy theory panties in a bunch.
    Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 27 Apr. 2025
  • Democrats have been grappling with their own version of that resolution, especially ever since the disastrous defeat of their party’s presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, in November.
    Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 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 3 May. 2025.

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