cellar dweller

noun

sports, informal

: a last-place team : a team with the worst record in a league, conference, etc.

Northwestern University, long a cellar dweller in the Big Ten, defied all odds and went to the Rose Bowl in 1995.

—Andrew Zimbalist

… any team in the majors—including the cellar dwellers from the season before—has the chance to be the best in the game.

—Tracy Ringolsby

The Aggies have morphed from conference cellar dweller to annual contender to a program that has won 17 consecutive home games …

—Ailene Voisin

Examples of cellar dweller in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The key reserves were Landry Shamet, a bench player this season for a cellar dweller in Washington; T.J. Warren, who’s not in Minnesota’s rotation now; Terrence Ross, who is out of the NBA, and Jock Landale, who played 14 minutes per game for Houston this season. —Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 16 Apr. 2024

The Baltimore Orioles’ ascension from the ashes of irrelevance has rejuvenated a once moribund franchise who were regular cellar dwellers in the American League East. —Wayne G. McDonnell, Jr., Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024

Nonetheless, after a disastrous stretch defined by injuries, the Vikings (7-9) are suddenly in danger of finishing as the cellar dweller of the NFC North for the first time in a decade. —Dane Mizutani, Twin Cities, 5 Jan. 2024

The Red Sox, meanwhile, get Monday off before heading to Washington to face the NL East cellar dwellers for three games (Tuesday-Thursday). —Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press, 13 Aug. 2023

The league has long been known for providing a friendly landscape for teams to reverse their fortunes in a single year, with at least one group going from cellar dweller to division champion on an almost annual basis. —Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, USA TODAY, 21 June 2023

But after upsetting Pepperdine on Monday, the Toreros had a chance to fix that issue Thursday night against the WCC’s usual cellar dweller, Portland. —Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Jan. 2022

But a second-half collapse against the Sooners snowballed into a six-game losing streak, including an embarrassing loss to perennial Big 12 cellar dweller Kansas, that spoiled coach Steve Sarkisian’s first season in Austin. —Eddie Timanus, USA TODAY, 28 Apr. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above