deadbeat

American  

[ded-beet] / ˈdɛdˌbit /

noun

deadbeats plural

1. Informal. a person who deliberately avoids paying debts or neglects responsibilities.

2. Informal. a loafer; sponger.

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adjective

1. Informal. not paying one's debts or neglecting one's responsibilities.

   a deadbeat parent who won't pay for college;

   deadbeat borrowers.

2. Horology. noting any of various timepiece escapements that act without recoil of the locking parts from the shock of contact.

3. Electricity. (of the indicator of an electric meter and the like) coming to a stop with little or no oscillation.

deadbeat British  

/ ˈdɛdˌbiːt /

noun

1. informal a lazy or socially undesirable person

2. 1. a person who makes a habit of avoiding or evading his or her responsibilities or debts

   2. ( as modifier )

      a deadbeat dad

3. a high grade escapement used in pendulum clocks

4. (modifier) (of a clock escapement) having a beat without any recoil

5. (modifier) physics

   1. (of a system) returning to an equilibrium position with little or no oscillation

   2. (of an instrument or indicator) indicating a true reading without oscillation

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• deadbeats
  plural

Etymology

Origin of deadbeat

First recorded in 1760–70; dead + beat

Explanation

A deadbeat is someone who owes money or has other financial obligations and doesn't meet them. Deadbeats don't pay their bills. This is an insult that is very specific: deadbeats don't pay what they owe. If someone went to a restaurant and didn't pay, the manager might say "You deadbeat!" If you don't pay a cable or phone bill, you're a deadbeat. A roommate who doesn't pay their share of the rent is a deadbeat. People often talk about deadbeat dads who abandon their children and don't pay child support. A more formal word for a deadbeat is defaulter.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

deadbeat deadbeats

He laughed when I asked whether the U.S. could become a deadbeat borrower or release tainted data.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026

The fish-out-of-water comedy show followed the wealthy Rose family as they abruptly lose their money and mansion, and are forced to move into a shabby motel in a deadbeat town they bought as a joke.

From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2026

Just prepare yourself for a Frankensteined dog cop, a killer cyber fish, a plethora of puns and . . . a surprisingly empowering message about how we should regard deadbeat cat dads.

From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2025

When some of the families later sued, authorities often used information from those interviews to portray the deceased as mentally ill criminals or deadbeat parents while defending their agencies in court.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2024

I look over his shoulder, scanning for any of the deadbeat “friends” he left us for.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Yes, many more deadbeats, and even the public housing authority is pleading for relief.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025

He alienated many in his own profession, calling many fellow academics "dinosaurs", "deadbeats", "fossils" and "has-beens" in his autobiography, Avoid Boring People.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2025

Because he cares more than us deadbeats he has swept up all of the garbage!

From Salon ● May 23, 2022

“Like deadbeats dodging bill collectors, as a nation, we keep dodging responsibility for what has transpired, what was perpetrated, and that from which we have benefited,” Dorgan writes.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 27, 2020

I was down to a day and a half a week when Valencia called a mover to cart a load of furniture to an apartment she'd rented for one of the deadbeats.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris