0 a person who is not willing to work, does not behave in a responsible way, and does not fit into ordinary society: --
[ as form of address ] Come off it, deadbeat, you're never going to get anywhere.
1 not willing to pay debts or accept responsibilities: --
2 someone who owes money and does not pay it, or someone who avoids doing work --
3 a person who tries to avoid paying money that they owe: --
They frowned on heavy drinking, gambling, and (what today are called) deadbeat dads.
Her dad's a deadbeat who walked out when she was five, and her mom runs off with would-be husbands repeatedly.
Though he can't land the big accounts, he displays a remarkable talent of collecting from deadbeat clients.
As a counterpoint, men are most often portrayed as cruel husbands or deadbeat fathers.
Herb's only real skill is knowing how to collect money from deadbeat clients, often by blackmailing them.
He is a deadbeat alcoholic, drug addict, and morally deficient freeloader who relies on his children to barely get by.
He remarked how agreeable it was to find a nationalised industry being attacked for aggressive marketing and not for being a sort of clapped-out deadbeat on the floor.
I have no doubt that there are deadbeat mums, too, but in this country the main problem is families without fathers—and families need fathers.
