Word.ws English Dictionary

welfare bum

welfare bum noun: a person whose source of income is government public assistance payments, especially one who is lazy and unwilling to work.

Noun

welfare bum (plural welfare bums)

  1. (Canada, US, derogatory, informal) A person whose source of income is government public assistance payments, especially one who is lazy and unwilling to work.
    • The program also can shatter once and for all that "welfare bum" myth that has served as an excuse to avoid obligation and sacrifice to aid unfortunate people.1971 June 22, “New Welfare Plan”, in Palm Beach Post, US, retrieved 09 Nov 2015, page A14
    • Welfare has long been scorned by those who see only the "welfare bum," able to work but preferring to sit home and collect a government check.1982 May 25, “Making Welfare Work”, in Schenectady Gazette, US, retrieved 09 Nov 2015, page 26

Examples of welfare bum in a sentence

  • "The other kids tell my kid: ‘Your mother's a welfare bum.’"1986 November 14, Jacquie Miller, “Single mothers use song, skit to plead for higher family benefits”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved...
  • He also told Sewap to “get a job and stop being a welfare bum.”2014 December 1, Larissa Burnouf, “Saskatoon landlord tells First Nations woman to kill herself when applying for apartment”, in APTN News...

Synonyms of welfare bum

Forms of welfare bum

pluralwelfare bums

Words formed from welfare bum

Questions about welfare bum

What does welfare bum mean?
Welfare bum means a person whose source of income is government public assistance payments, especially one who is lazy and unwilling to work.
How do you use welfare bum in a sentence?
"The other kids tell my kid: ‘Your mother's a welfare bum.’"
What part of speech is welfare bum?
Welfare bum is a noun.
What is the plural of welfare bum?
The plural of welfare bum is welfare bums.

Words near welfare bum in the dictionary

  1. Weldy
  2. Weldys
  3. Wele-Nzas
  4. welfare
  5. welfare assistance
  6. welfare bum
  7. welfare bums
  8. welfare Cadillac
  9. welfare Cadillacs
  10. welfare capitalism
  11. welfare check

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: welfare bum (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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