sinecure

noun

1. A position that requires little to no work, or easy work, but still gives an ample payment; a cushy job.

   “Miss Briggs was not formally dismissed, but her place as companion was a sinecure and a derision […]”

   “A lucrative sinecure in the Excise was bestowed on Ferguson.”

   “His prospects consisted of a hope that if he kept up appearances somebody would do something for him. The something appeared vaguely to his imagination as a private secretaryship or a sinecure of some sort.”

   “With extra traffic, numerous boat trains to and from Southampton Docks, and working of empty stock, his job, like that of most signalmen, is no sinecure.”

   “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.”

2. (historical)An ecclesiastical benefice without the care of souls.

adj

1. (not-comparable)Requiring no work for an ample reward.

   “By the act of union (1800), the offices of Irish secretary, a sinecure post, and lord lieutenant's secretary were combined.”

2. (not-comparable)Having the appearance of functionality without being of any actual use or purpose.

   “The old man hastily pulled down his spectacles from their sinecure office on his forehead, and looked at her with an expression of most angry amazement.”

verb

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