free rider

Noun

free rider (plural free riders)

1. One who gets a free ride on a ship, or similar; one who rides on a means of transportation gratis.

   Synonyms:

   stowaway

2. (broadly) Someone who obtains goods or services legally without paying.
   • The store failed because all of the manager's friends were free riders who drove paying customers away.

   Synonyms:

   freeloader, bloodsucker, bludger, bummer, gadfly, leech, mooch, moocher, parasite, scrounge

3. One who obtains benefit from a public good without paying for it directly.
   • A lighthouse is the classic example of a public good because it is difficult to prevent a ship (a free rider) from using it.
   • Trump also promises to attack the sources abroad that he blames for the country’s malaise: economic interdependence, transnational criminals, traditional allies he sees as free riders on America’s long-running global beneficence.2024 December 12, Eric Cortellessa, “Donald Trump 2024 TIME Person of the Year”, in Time, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2024
4. (industrial relations) A worker at an open shop who is able to enjoy the benefits negotiated by a union without being a member of the union.