Word.ws English Dictionary

welfare Cadillac

welfare Cadillac noun: the case of a person or group receiving public benefits, although the benefits are not actually needed by the recipient or are obtained by fraud.

Noun

welfare Cadillac (plural welfare Cadillacs)

  1. (US, idiomatic) The case of a person or group receiving public benefits, although the benefits are not actually needed by the recipient or are obtained by fraud.

Forms of welfare Cadillac

pluralwelfare Cadillacs

Origin of welfare Cadillac

The imagery is of a person arriving at a welfare office in a Cadillac automobile (an expensive car) to pick up a welfare payment. The implication is that the person does not need the benefit, or that the benefits are too generous.

Questions about welfare Cadillac

What does welfare Cadillac mean?
Welfare Cadillac means the case of a person or group receiving public benefits, although the benefits are not actually needed by the recipient or are obtained by fraud.
What part of speech is welfare Cadillac?
Welfare Cadillac is a noun.
What is the plural of welfare Cadillac?
The plural of welfare Cadillac is welfare Cadillacs.

Words near welfare Cadillac in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: welfare Cadillac (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-welfare Cadillac.ogg.

Cite this entry: “welfare Cadillac.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/welfare_cadillac. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.