white elephant
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.06 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A possession that is unwanted or is a financial burden; an unprofitable investment.
noun
noun
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see white, elephant.
Example Sentences
- "South Australia's "white elephant" was really going to prove a valuable possession after all!"
- "Some of the stadiums being built for the World Cup soccer tournament, scheduled for next year, have also been criticized for delays and cost overruns, and have become subjects of derision as protesters question whether they will become white elephants."
- "In your story about Chinese success, you spend a lot of time on the shadow side of these big projects. Some of these projects look like white elephants. They look like airports built when there aren’t enough people flying or apartment blocks built that lots of people don’t want to live in."
Etymology
In Siam, elephants were working animals. However, white (albino) elephants were considered sacred and therefore were not to be put to work. The owner was then left to feed the elephant but could get no work from it. It is said that the King of Siam used to make a present of a white elephant to courtiers he wanted to ruin.