English
sinecure
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈsaɪ.nɪ.kjʊə/, /ˈsɪ.nɪ.kjʊə/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈsaɪ.nə.kjʊɹ/, /ˈsɪn.ə.kjʊɹ/
Noun

sinecure (plural sinecures)

  1. A position that requires no work but still gives an ample payment; a cushy job.
    • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 14:
      Miss Briggs was not formally dismissed, but her place as companion was a sinecure and a derision ...
    • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, Volume III, Chapter XI, page 35:
      A lucrative sinecure in the Excise was bestowed on Ferguson.
    • 2009, Michael O'Connor, Quadrant, November 2009, No. 461 (Volume LIII, Number 11), Quadrant Magazine Limited, page 25:
      In the ADF, while the numbers vary between the individual services and the reserves, employment is no comfortable sinecure for any personnel and thus does not appeal to many people, male or female, especially under current pay scales.
    • 2010, Mungo MacCallum, The Monthly, April 2010, Issue 55, The Monthly Ptd Ltd, page 28:
      However, by the time of World War II (if not before), politics, at least in the federal sphere, was no longer regarded as sinecure for well-intentioned part-timers.
  2. (historical) An ecclesiastical benefice without the care of souls.
    • A sinecure is a benefice without cure of souls.
Related terms Translations Verb

sinecure (sinecures, present participle sinecuring; past and past participle sinecured)

  1. (transitive) To put or place in a sinecure.


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