hanger-on

American  

[hang-er-on, -awn] / ˈhæŋ ərˈɒn, -ˈɔn /

noun

hangers-on plural

1. a person who remains in a place or joins a group, another person, etc., especially in the hope or expectation of personal gain, even though their presence may be neither wanted nor needed.

   Synonyms:

   follower, sycophant, parasite, toady

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hanger-on British  

noun

1. a sycophantic follower or dependant, esp one hoping for personal gain

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• hangers-on
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hanger-on

1540–50; noun use of verb phrase hang on; see -er ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hanger-on hangers-on

When Thoreau set out for his first of his three chronicled trips to Cape Cod in 1849, he was a virtually unknown hanger-on to America’s foremost public intellectual, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026

She also had to get used to the idea of who Lydia had become: a widowed mother with a surly unfun daughter who doesn’t believe in ghosts, dating a suspiciously doting hanger-on.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2024

In “The Bear,” Matty Matheson, the Canadian chef and restaurateur, plays the hanger-on and handyman Neil, his first scripted role.

From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2023

Jamie saw himself as the fresh young star and Roy as the aging, hanger-on standing in his way.

From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2023

She was with that whole Zach Powers crew, and not as a hanger-on either.

From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman

The last of them, these spent survivors, these hangers-on, had trudged to the Citrus Show to talk about the real problem, which was the disease.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026

Equally, the need for professors and instructors engendered by the college boom created its own class of intellectuals and intellectual hangers-on.

From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026

Everyone acted up: secretaries, senior partners, mailroom clerks, hangers-on.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025

Think backward: Where things begin is the bitter end, at a glitzy Hollywood Hills party in 1976 full of showbiz hangers-on.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2025

The boy was nineteen years old, alone except for his sword-handler, and the three hangers-on, and the bull-fight was to commence in twenty minutes.

From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway