Word.ws English Dictionary

deadbeat dads

deadbeat dads is the plural of deadbeat dad.

Meaning of deadbeat dad

Noun

deadbeat dad (plural deadbeat dads)

  1. (Canada, US, derogatory, idiomatic) A man, especially one who is divorced or estranged from his partner, who fails to provide monetary child support when he is legally required to do so.
    • If the '90s offer one villain by consensus, it is the deadbeat dad, that selfish fugitive condemned by liberals and conservatives alike for his irresponsible behavior and generous contributions to the cycle of welfare dependency.1995 April 3, David Van Biema, “Dunning Deadbeats”, in Time
  2. (broadly, derogatory, idiomatic, informal) A man who is voluntarily absent and uncaring towards his children, especially one who leaves them entirely in their mother's care.

Questions about deadbeat dads

What is deadbeat dads the plural of?
Deadbeat dads is the plural of deadbeat dad.

Words near deadbeat dads in the dictionary

  1. deadasses
  2. deadband
  3. deadbands
  4. deadbeat
  5. deadbeat dad
  6. deadbeat dads
  7. deadbeat mom
  8. deadbeats
  9. deadblow
  10. deadblows
  11. deadbolt

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: deadbeat dads (page history and authors); deadbeat dad (page history and authors). 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.

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