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

He's seen action in garbage time against Purdue, Arkansas and Navy. —Jordan Sigler, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Nov. 2025

All of his opportunities before this have come in garbage time, with the Hurricanes well ahead of the opponent and all the starters pulled. —Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 11 Nov. 2025

The Chargers held the Steelers to under 160 yards of total offense before garbage time. —The Athletic Nfl Staff, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025

After rarely playing outside of garbage time before this week, Walsh has made an impact with his defensive pressure in back-to-back games. —Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 8 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1960, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for garbage time

• aforetime
• allozyme
• anytime
• christmastime
• cybercrime
• dinnertime
• guggenheim
• isozyme
• lysozyme
• maritime
• mesenchyme
• overtime