noun
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informal a person who lives off other people by continually taking advantage of their generosity; parasite or scrounger
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a person or ship employed in collecting sponges
Etymology
Origin of sponger
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.
Given that Magnus is a sponger, a con man, Catholic convert and gay, he comes across as a second cousin to that comparably fascinating outcast, Frederick Rolfe, the self-styled Baron Corvo.
From Washington Post • Dec. 17, 2019
Of course, stepson Bushrod turned out to be a caddish sponger, but stepdaughter Gary was the joy of Clyde's heart.
From Time Magazine Archive
Off the Carthaginian coast, at the Island of Djerba, the expedition's divers groped for a submerged city whose walls had been reported seen by a sponger.
From Time Magazine Archive
When John Beaver, a beautiful specimen of the unpopular sponger, spent a weekend with them.
From Time Magazine Archive
‘I will all right if he’s down there tomorrow. But you leave that bag alone. It don’t belong to that sponger any more.’
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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.
