deadbeat
UK/ˈdɛdbiːt/
deadbeat noun: a lazy or irresponsible person who is often unemployed, often depending upon wealthy or otherwise financially independent people for support.
Noun
deadbeat (plural deadbeats)
- A lazy or irresponsible person who is often unemployed, often depending upon wealthy or otherwise financially independent people for support.
- A person who defaults on debts.
- With a few exceptions, all those changes were published in the Ontario Gazette, a little-read compendium of government business that comes out every week. The province requires this by law, as do most Canadian jurisdictions, nominally to thwart fraudsters and deadbeats.2016 September 9, Eric Andrew-Gee, “Why and how Ontarians change their names in the 21st century”, in The Globe and Mail, archived from the original on 03 Oct 2016
- A customer who pays their credit card or loan balance in full and on time each month, thereby incurring no interest charges. (Compare revolver, who carries a balance and pays interest.)
- Deadbeat is slang for a credit card user who pays their balance in full and on time each month. […] A deadbeat is also called a "nonrevolver" or a "transactor." […] However, so-called deadbeats in the credit world also do not rack up bills they never pay, so they do not generate significant losses...2026 May 17, “"Deadbeat" Credit Card Users: Definition and Benefits”, in Investopedia, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2026
Adjective
deadbeat (not comparable)
- Having a damped needle that stops without oscillation.
- Defaulting on one's debts.
- Defeated or exhausted.
- Lazy or irresponsible.
- Dead tired.
deadbeat meaning in Bengali and Malayalam
deadbeat in Bengali
- একজন আলসেমে, দায়িত্বজ্ঞানহীন ব্যক্তি, প্রায়ই বেকার, ঋণ পরিশোধে ব্যর্থ, পরাজিত, ক্লান্ত
deadbeat in Malayalam
- loafer, layabout, idler
- ഒന്നിനും കൊള്ളാത്തവൻ, ചുക്കിനും ചുണ്ണാമ്പിനും കൊള്ളാത്തവൻ, ജോലി ചെയ്യാതെ കറങ്ങിനടക്കുന്നവൻ, അകർമ്മി, അകർമ്മകൃത്ത്, മൊണ്ണ
Synonyms of deadbeat
Forms of deadbeat
| plural | deadbeats |
|---|---|
| alternative form | dead beat |
| alternative form | dead-beat |
Origin of deadbeat
From dead + beat. As an adjective, of a person, to be exhausted, first use appears c. the 1820s. During the American Civil War, it also became a derogatory adjective, in the sense of "a person that defaults on their debts or avoids responsibilities" and "sponger", "vagabond". This sense dates from c. 1863. Possibly related to good for nothing.
Words formed from deadbeat
Phrases with deadbeat
Questions about deadbeat
- What does deadbeat mean?
- Deadbeat means a lazy or irresponsible person who is often unemployed, often depending upon wealthy or otherwise financially independent people for support.
- What is deadbeat in Bengali?
- Deadbeat in Bengali is একজন আলসেমে, দায়িত্বজ্ঞানহীন ব্যক্তি, প্রায়ই বেকার. See Deadbeat meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is deadbeat?
- Deadbeat can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce deadbeat?
- Deadbeat is pronounced /ˈdɛdbiːt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of deadbeat?
- The plural of deadbeat is deadbeats.
Words near deadbeat in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deadbeat (page history and authors); deadbeat (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deadbeat (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-deadbeat.wav.
Cite this entry: “deadbeat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deadbeat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.