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

One touchdown was all the Broncos' D allowed, and that came in garbage time.—

Paul Zimmerman

Examples of garbage time in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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.

Milwaukee went on a 21-11 run after Antetokounmpo came back in before he was subbed out in garbage time. —

Chris Biderman, Sacramento Bee, 15 Jan. 2025 According to Cleaning the Glass, an advanced analytics database that omits stats compiled in garbage time, Valančiūnas also ranks among the league’s most efficient big men in defensive-rebounding percentage, offensive-rebounding percentage and assist percentage. —

David Aldridge, The Athletic, 14 Jan. 2025 Listen to this article Loading your audio article Sean Payton essentially chalked the offensive stats up to garbage time. —

Parker Gabriel, The Denver Post, 10 Jan. 2025 His appearances, often in garbage time, haven’t provided enough runway to build trust or rhythm. —

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 9 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for garbage time