piggyback
Americanadverb
adjective
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astride the back or shoulders.
a piggyback ride.
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sharing commercial time, space, etc..
piggyback advertising.
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carryable or attachable.
a piggyback turbine unit.
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added or tacked on; supplementary.
a piggyback clause.
-
noting or pertaining to the carrying of one vehicle or the like by another, as the carrying of loaded truck trailers on flatcars.
verb (used with object)
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to attach or ally to as or as if a part of the same thing.
to piggyback human rights agreements with foreign aid.
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to carry (somebody) on the back or shoulders.
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to carry (truck trailers) by railroad on flatcars.
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Radio and Television Slang. to advertise (two or more products) in the same commercial.
verb (used without object)
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to be transported aboard or atop another carrier.
The space shuttle piggybacked on the airplane.
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to use, appropriate, or exploit the availability, services, or facilities of another.
private clinics piggybacking on federal healthcare facilities.
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to carry truck trailers by railroad on flatcars.
noun
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a house trailer designed to fit over a pickup truck.
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a truck trailer carried on a flatcar.
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anything that operates in connection with or as part of another.
noun
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a ride on the back and shoulders of another person
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a system whereby a vehicle, aircraft, etc, is transported for part of its journey on another vehicle, such as a flat railway wagon, another aircraft, etc
adverb
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on the back and shoulders of another person
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on or as an addition to something else
adjective
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of or for a piggyback
a piggyback ride
piggyback lorry trains
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of or relating to a type of heart transplant in which the transplanted heart functions in conjunction with the patient's own heart
verb
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to give (a person) a piggyback on one's back and shoulders
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to transport (one vehicle) on another
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to exploit an existing resource, system, or product
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(tr) to attach to or mount on (an existing piece of equipment or system)
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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piggybacksimple
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piggybackssimple
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have piggybackedperfect
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has piggybackedperfect
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am piggybackingprogressive
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are piggybackingprogressive
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is piggybackingprogressive
-
have been piggybackingperfect progressive
-
has been piggybackingperfect progressive
Past
-
piggybackedsimple
-
had piggybackedperfect
-
was piggybackingprogressive
-
were piggybackingprogressive
-
had been piggybackingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of piggyback
First recorded in 1580–90; alteration of pickaback
Explanation
To ride piggyback is to hang on to someone's shoulders as they carry you on their back. The best babysitters are happy to give endless piggyback rides. You can use piggyback as an adverb or a noun: "Will you give me a piggyback the rest of the way home?" It can also mean "use someone else's work for support or advantage," like when your idea of selling muffins piggybacks on your brother's existing plan to drive a bakery-themed food truck around town. Experts think piggyback comes from pickaback and the even earlier pick pack (think "backpack").
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:
Their personalities shone during Butter, when Jungkook jumped onto Jin's shoulders and got a piggyback around the stage.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
These signals piggyback on the brawny Bang & Olufsen audio system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
At that length, the Dodgers won’t need to designate long relievers to piggyback Ohtani’s starts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
The most common type of down-payment assistance, according to Down Payment Resource, is a second mortgage, or piggyback loan, which has grown in popularity as affordability has challenged home buyers.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 31, 2026
You hardly ever saw him without a brother clinging to his leg, a sister riding piggyback, and another one tugging at his back pocket.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Judge Wetherell’s decision piggybacks on a ruling in March when he shot down an earlier version of parole.
From Washington Times ● May 11, 2023
The bacteria piggybacks on the flour, so one advantage of making a sourdough starter from organically grown wheat or other grains is that it will have a more diverse array of bacterial species.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 10, 2023
For Netflix, he piggybacks on his sister's account.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2022
GoFundMe just piggybacks on their efforts, hoping to get another cut out of the kindness of people’s hearts—or out of people not noticing a 15 percent tip is GoFundMe’s default option.
From Slate ● Dec. 9, 2020
I give Leigh’s and Katherine’s kids a hundred airplane rides and piggybacks, or at least until I can’t stand up anymore.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
On Feb. 1, she piggybacked off the Flynn campaign launch video to declare she’d “left Oxford to run Carrick’s campaign” and was “honored to work for him!”
From Slate ● Dec. 13, 2023
One of the rescued hikers moaned in pain and said "God is great" as she piggybacked on a rescuer, AFP news agency reported.
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2023
“We just kind of piggybacked off them — waited for them to get their photos done,” McCann said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2023
Yeah, I just piggybacked off of Mary Oliver, so that was a total cheat, but I was eating dinner listening to this podcast and sobbing.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2022
“The boat dumped a rotten carcass or a spoiled haul, right? The flies piggybacked on the dead fish until they picked up Stef’s scent.”
From "Adrift" by Paul Griffin
The first Indian quick-commerce apps launched during the Covid-19 pandemic, piggybacking off a rewiring of urban shopping habits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026
While it's not clear what form this collaboration may take, it's a rare example of a global fashion giant acknowledging that it failed to credit local artisans and the craft it was piggybacking on.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2025
Ryan Yarbrough, a trade-deadline acquisition, has settled in as an effective swingman, piggybacking with starters to take down multiple innings out of the bullpen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2023
Small businesses of all kinds are piggybacking on the tour’s momentum.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 25, 2023
The ice pack, with Ocean Camp piggybacking along, made a steady three miles north every day.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
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.
