garbage time
noun
US, sports
: the final moments or minutes of a game in which one side has an insurmountable lead, substitutes often enter the game in place of starting players, and scoring is typically easier because of looser defensive play
… the forgotten foursome of Greg Kite, Fred Roberts, Sam Vicent and Conner Henry will be on call in case of extreme emergency and those meaningless minutes appropriately referred to as garbage time.—
Gerry Finn
Gerry FinnOne touchdown was all the Broncos' D allowed, and that came in garbage time.—Paul Zimmerman
Paul ZimmermanExamples of garbage time in a Sentence
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He was sacked seven times, leading the Browns to 196 total yards and 1-of-13 on third down before Jameis Winston took over in garbage time.
—Vincent Frank, Forbes, 7 Oct. 2024
And to add injury to insult, Ionescu shushed the crowd after draining a trey in the final seconds of garbage time.
—Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 1 Aug. 2024
Margin of victory matters in group play, so there’s no such thing as garbage time, but Tatum’s exclusion from the rotation will raise questions for Kerr.
—Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 28 July 2024
After that, the rest of the inspection is pretty much garbage time (literally), but there were also live roaches walking solo under a kitchen wok, in front of a walk-in freezer, on racks next to the back door and on a wall above the three-compartment sink.
—David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 4 July 2024
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Vincent Frank, Forbes, 7 Oct. 2024
And to add injury to insult, Ionescu shushed the crowd after draining a trey in the final seconds of garbage time.
—Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 1 Aug. 2024
Margin of victory matters in group play, so there’s no such thing as garbage time, but Tatum’s exclusion from the rotation will raise questions for Kerr.
—Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 28 July 2024
After that, the rest of the inspection is pretty much garbage time (literally), but there were also live roaches walking solo under a kitchen wok, in front of a walk-in freezer, on racks next to the back door and on a wall above the three-compartment sink.
—David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 4 July 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Garbage time.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garbage%20time. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
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