free rider

as in parasite
a person who is supported by or seeks support from another without making an adequate return During their fundraising campaign, the public radio station encouraged listeners not to be free riders.

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for free rider
Noun
  • Water, shellfish and unwashed fruits and vegetables can also harbor infectious parasite eggs.
    Bill Sullivan, The Conversation, 28 May 2025
  • The woman, whose name is redacted from the fire department’s report, said her friend Giancarlo decided to use a lighter to remove the blood-sucking parasite.
    Ethan Baron, Mercury News, 20 May 2025
Noun
  • Extra amounts are available for veterans who may have additional dependents, such as more than two children.
    Aliss Higham, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 May 2025
  • Before 1987, taxpayers could claim dependents by simply listing their names.
    Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes.com, 24 May 2025
Noun
  • The central pool has clusters of coral and sponges, attracting dozens of types of tropical fish.
    Erik Trinidad, Travel + Leisure, 21 May 2025
  • Benny’s presented as an overachieving sponge, absorbing contradictory messages about how he is supposed to live in society from both masc frat culture, which tells him to repress, and the relatively more progressive music and films he’s become obsessed with, which tell him to, uh, slay.
    Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 15 May 2025
Noun
  • Peter Kwong, a martial artist and actor who played one of the Three Storms in Big Trouble in Little China and a henchman in The Golden Child during a prolific acting career and was active in actors union politics and the movie and TV academy leadership, has died.
    Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 28 May 2025
  • The film’s extended pre-title sequence culminates in Ethan brutally murdering the henchmen that Gabriel (Esai Morales) has dispatched to kill her.
    Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 23 May 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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“Free rider.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/free%20rider. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.

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