deadbeat

C2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈdɛdˌbiːt/ UK /ˈdɛdbiːt/ See IPA manual

Freq #19322

Meanings

1

noun
informal, disparaging: a lazy or irresponsible person who avoids work or depends on others for support

Huck exposed the two frauds as regular deadbeats.
2

noun
a person who fails to pay debts or meet financial obligations

The landlord refused to rent another room to the known deadbeat.
3

adj
engineering: designed so that a pointer settles immediately without oscillating

The technician checked the reading on the deadbeat galvanometer.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · informal, disparaging: a... idler loafersponger

2 noun · a person who fails to pay... defaulterwelcher

3 adj · engineering: designed so... critically damped

Opposites

workerpayer

Word family

Forms dead-beats

Related forms beat default

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

deadbeat dad
an insulting term for a father who deliberately fails to provide financial support for his children

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From dead + beat. Nineteenth-century US slang applied dead beat first to exhaustion and then to a worthless, irresponsible, or defaulting person. The technical adjective independently uses dead for the immediate stopping of a pointer.

Topics

People & Society Register & Style

External links

# deadbeat

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈdɛdˌbiːt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈdɛdbiːt/
**Frequency rank:** 19322

## Meanings
1. informal, disparaging: a lazy or irresponsible person who avoids work or depends on others for support
2. a person who fails to pay debts or meet financial obligations
3. engineering: designed so that a pointer settles immediately without oscillating

## Examples
- Huck exposed the two frauds as regular deadbeats.
- The landlord refused to rent another room to the known deadbeat.
- The technician checked the reading on the deadbeat galvanometer.

## Synonyms
- idler
- loafer
- sponger
- defaulter

## Antonyms
- worker
- payer

## Related Forms
- beat
- default

## Etymology
From dead + beat. Nineteenth-century US slang applied dead beat first to exhaustion and then to a worthless, irresponsible, or defaulting person. The technical adjective independently uses dead for the immediate stopping of a pointer.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Register & Style

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