kangaroo court
noun
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A kangaroo court has never been a court by or for kangaroos, but beyond that, little is known for sure about the term's origins. Various theories abound: it has been suggested that kangaroo courts got their name because they were initially marked by rapid and unpredictable movement from one place to another, or that they were in some way associated with "jumping" (i.e., illegally occupying) mining claims. These hypotheses are all unsubstantiated, however. What is known is that the first kangaroo courts originated in the United States at approximately the time of the 1849 California Gold Rush, and the word saw its earliest use in the southwestern U.S. It first turned up in print in 1853 in a book about Texas.
Examples of kangaroo court in a Sentence
Howard Schneider, National Review, 21 Dec. 2023
Hunter was credited with starting the Orioles’ kangaroo court.
—Paul McCardell, Baltimore Sun, 17 Jan. 2024
Bunker said the ordeal felt like a kangaroo court and that the committee had made up their minds before the hearing even began.
—Andrea Mew, National Review, 20 Dec. 2023
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a parliamentary committee investigating him a kangaroo court.
—Max Colchester, WSJ, 9 June 2023
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Cite this Entry
“Kangaroo court.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kangaroo%20court. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
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