mooch
Americanverb (used with object)
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mooches,
present (3rd person singular)
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mooched,
past participle, past
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mooching
present participle
-
to borrow (a small item or amount) without intending to return or repay it.
-
to get or take without paying or at another's expense; sponge.
He always mooches cigarettes.
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to beg.
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to steal.
verb (used without object)
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mooches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
mooched,
past participle, past
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mooching
present participle
-
to skulk or sneak.
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to loiter or wander about.
noun
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mooches
plural
verb
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to loiter or walk aimlessly
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(intr) to behave in an apathetic way
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(intr) to sneak or lurk; skulk
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(tr) to cadge
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(tr) to steal
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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moochsimple
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moochessimple
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have moochedperfect
-
has moochedperfect
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am moochingprogressive
-
are moochingprogressive
-
is moochingprogressive
-
have been moochingperfect progressive
-
has been moochingperfect progressive
Past
-
moochedsimple
-
had moochedperfect
-
was moochingprogressive
-
were moochingprogressive
-
had been moochingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mooch
1425–75; late Middle English, apparently variant of Middle English michen < Old French muchier to skulk, hide
Explanation
To mooch is to take advantage of other people's generosity without giving anything in return. If you constantly mooch rides from your friend, she's going to get tired of agreeing to drive you around. When you mooch food from your neighbors — showing up every night at dinnertime, or appearing uninvited at their family barbecues — you help yourself to free meals. A person in the habit of doing this is also called a mooch. The word's original definition, "pretend poverty," might stem from the Middle English word mucchen, "to be stingy," or literally, "to keep coins in one's nightcap."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
While other dogs might be content to mooch off kitchen droppings, Riley prefers to eat from her own plate of human food.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
And then I realized that he presumably never paid for them down the line; even if his intentions were good, that made him a mooch, a behavior I have never admired at all.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 8, 2022
Like all viruses, they take over cells and force them to churn out other copies of themselves, the worst kind of mooch you can imagine.
From Salon ● Nov. 22, 2021
You say you don’t want the hassle of a divorce, but in that case you may be opting for the hassle of having him mooch off of you indefinitely.
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2021
Dotty O’Neill sent a note to your house and said you didn’t come back to school after lunch, that you went on the mooch with Paddy Clohessy.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
It doesn’t seem to bother him a bit that he mooches off of us.
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2021
Scaramucci, who jokingly measures time in mooches, a unit equal to approximately 11 days, said he doesn’t necessarily like the version of himself he often sees on screen, but feels director Andrew Moscato was accurate.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 26, 2018
“Glee” star Darren Criss is plenty creepy and believable as Cunanan, a 27-year-old charlatan and chronic fibber who mooches off the kindness of strangers.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 16, 2018
In an effort to explain how dogs evolved into the brazen, adorable mooches we know and love, scientists have identified a few genetic mutations that may be behind their friendly personalities.
From The Verge ● Jul. 19, 2017
Babylon mooches wearily along with a red nose dreaming in the sun, and Gomorrah leans against an ash can.
From A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago by Ben Hecht
When we had a hankering for tofu, I mooched soybeans from an Illinois farmer friend, cooked them up and formed delectable tofu in a wooden box.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
Parents dragged their children home from school on sledges, and students mooched their way in and out of brightly-lit malls.
From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2026
Dawson’s one taxi was out of commission, so I mooched a ride partway and walked the rest along the Yukon River to the Whitehouse Cabins on the north edge of town.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 10, 2021
Get ready for next summer though, to mooch and be mooched upon.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 3, 2020
Kevin wasn't allowed to eat sweets, so he always mooched snacks from everybody's lunchboxes.
From "Scream for Ice Cream: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #2" by Carolyn Keene
“I can throw forks because this is our father’s house, my father’s house,” prompting Lee to point out that Mikey is living in the house with his mother, who he’s mooching off of financially.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2023
Radio listeners learn the difference between downrigging and motor mooching.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 24, 2023
These are not “free money” schemes or lazy people just mooching off a system; this is due compensation for the injuries we received in the line of duty.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 10, 2023
Lupin certainly seems to know where the cat food aisle is, and a number of photographs show the moggy mooching around the boxes and tins.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2022
He had little shame over mooching off his uncle and even less about his useless college degree.
From "Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
