Dictionary

free rider en · NOUN

Meanings

1. One who gets a free ride on a ship, or similar; one who rides on a means of transportation gratis.
2. (broadly) Someone who obtains goods or services legally without paying.
   • The store failed because all of the manager's friends were free riders who drove paying customers away.
3. One who obtains benefit from a public good without paying for it directly.
   • Trump also promises to attack the sources abroad that he blames for the country’s malaise: economic interdependence, transnational criminals, traditional allies he sees as free riders on America’s long-running global beneficence. 2024 December 12, Eric Cortellessa, “Donald Trump 2024 TIME Person of the Year”, in Time, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2024:
   • A lighthouse is the classic example of a public good because it is difficult to prevent a ship (a free rider) from using it.
4. (qualifier:industrial relations) A worker at an open shop who is able to enjoy the benefits negotiated by a union without being a member of the union.

Forms

Deriveds

free-rider problem

Relateds

let George do it · public good · free ride · tragedy of the commons

Synonyms

freeloader · leech · sponge · stowaway · freeloader · scunge · bludger · scrounger · moocher · sucker · smell-feast · gadfly · scrounge · sponger · free rider · trencher mate · parasite · mooch · bloodsucker · bummer

Translations (5)

cmn 搭便車者 /搭便车者 ((economics) one who obtains benefit from a public good without paying for it directly) · it portoghese ((economics) one who obtains benefit from a public good without paying for it directly) · fi vapaamatkustaja ((economics) one who obtains benefit from a public good without paying for it directly) · pl but see pasożyt ((economics) one who obtains benefit from a public good without paying for it directly) · fr passager clandestin ((economics) one who obtains benefit from a public good without paying for it directly)