the bench

noun

1

law : the place where a judge sits in a court of law

The lawyer asked if he could approach the bench.

2

: a long seat where the members of a sports team wait during a game for a chance to play

He spent most of his season on the bench.

He plays better coming off the bench.

Examples of the bench in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Or will Houston again have to turn to the serviceable floor of Holiday, who has clear limitations but is a good shooter himself and a tough cookie on defense, and leave Sheppard at the end of the bench for another year? —John Hollinger, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025

Blackburn retired May 31 after 29 years on the bench. —Evan Mealins, Nashville Tennessean, 1 Oct. 2025

Schumaker, however, is the bench coach with the Texas Rangers, so he is expected to be a leading candidate to take over that team now that the team has parted ways with Manager Bruce Bochy. —Jeff Fletcher, Oc Register, 30 Sep. 2025

Connaughton is in the final year of his deal and doesn’t quite fit into Charlotte’s timeline, so the Hornets could still look to eventually move him to a team in search of backcourt experience off the bench. —Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 26 Sep. 2025

Rhymes for the bench

• entrench
• retrench
• workbench
• clench
• drench
• quench
• stench
• tench
• trench
• wench
• wrench