Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
deadbeat customer

deadbeat customer

7.1
A person who buys but does not pay their bills
  • noun
  • /ˈdɛdˌbit ˈkʌstəmər/
  • Offensive
translation icon : cliente moroso
  • We had to blacklist that deadbeat customer for not paying.

Examples

  • The shop owner is careful to avoid doing business with deadbeat customers.

  • After several warnings, we had to cut off the account of a deadbeat customer.

  • Companies lose money every year because of deadbeat customers who fail to settle their bills.

  • The store owner is tired of dealing with deadbeat customers.

  • Many businesses face challenges when dealing with deadbeat customers who refuse to pay their bills.

  • The store decided to blacklist a few deadbeat customers who were consistently late on payments.

  • To improve cash flow, the landlord had to take action against deadbeat customers who never paid their rent.

Synonyms

deadbeat
vsdeadbeat customer
  • Offensive
48 7.6

A person who does not pay money they owe and avoids responsibility

is the same idea but limited to people buying goods or services
defaulter
vsdeadbeat customer
  • Specialized
1 7.1

A person who fails to pay money they owe

focuses on regular unreliability in payments rather than a single missed obligation
delinquent account holder
vsdeadbeat customer
7.8

A person who does not pay money they owe to a bank or credit company on time

is used for people who buy in many settings, not only bank accounts

How Reliable

deadbeat customer
  • Offensive
7.1

Surface Forms

deadbeat customer singular
deadbeat customers plural

Morphology

deadbeat + customer

The noun phrase meaning is directly compositional: 'deadbeat' (someone who fails to pay or shirks obligations) + 'customer' yields 'a customer who doesn't pay or is unreliable with payments.' There is no opaque metaphoric shift or idiomatic change, so a learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Deadbeat customer comes from older slang deadbeat, made from the parts dead, meaning not active, and beat, meaning not working, and was used for people who avoided jobs and money. So a deadbeat customer is a buyer who 'fails to pay' their bills.