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Glite Dictionary
🎸 Grateful Dead fan 🌸 To remove flowers 🚆 Empty vehicle trip 😴 Unproductive person 🌸 Flower remover
deadhead

deadhead

1 8.5
A person who avoids work but still gets paid
  • noun
  • /ˈdɛdˌhɛd/
  • Offensive
translation icon : vago
  • It was the unions, deadhead.

Examples

  • So now we're supposed to believe some deadhead brain representing union labor that there is nothing to worry about regarding national spending and debt.

    Blog text (25)

  • I've got to stand here in this tin can like some deadhead just because Wiley's outside.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Yeah, I'm the deadhead.

    Catch Me If You Can (2002)

  • You're just a deadhead.

    All the Pretty Horses (2000)

  • He was just a deadhead who never contributed to the team's efforts during the project.

  • Many employees feel that some colleagues are deadheads who avoid taking on any responsibilities.

  • During the meeting, John pointed out that a few deadheads in the office weren't pulling their weight.

Synonyms

deadbeat
vsdeadhead
  • Offensive
48 7.6

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

focuses on avoiding work or benefiting without contributing rather than money matters

Antonyms

worker
600 1.0

A person employed to do physical or routine jobs

contributor
136 3.6

A person who gives articles or ideas to magazines and websites

How Productive

hard worker
33 1.3
worker
600 1.0
deadhead
  • Offensive
1 8.5
shirker
1 8.0
idler
  • Offensive
2 7.0

Surface Forms

deadhead singular
deadheads plural

Morphology

deadhead = dead + head (semi-transparent) = dead + head

The sense 'unproductive person' can be understood as 'dead' (inactive) + 'head' (person) even if it is slang.

Etymology

Deadhead comes from dead ('not active') and head ('person'); it was used for someone who does not work or who takes benefits without giving back. So a deadhead at work is a person who does not help the team.