boondoggle definitions WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005) n 1: work of ... a wasteful or impractical project or activity often involving graft • boondoggle intransitive verb • boondoggler noun Collin's Cobuild Dictionary (boondoggles) People ... sometimes refer to an official organization or activity as a boondoggle when they think it wastes a lot of time and ... much. (AM INFORMAL) The new runway is a billion-dollar boondoggle. N-COUNT [disapproval]