deadbeat dad
(chiefly, US, and, Canada, idiomatic, derogatory) A man, especially one who is divorced or estranged from his partner, who fails to provide monetary child support when he is legally required to do so.
Seen in the wild
If I was his kidI too would be very annoyed at a deadbeat dad who kept going to work instead of focusing on his no.1 responsibility- the happiness of his child
He's not a deadbeat dad, though. He just doesn't want to spend his vacation time on the family farm because he is the only one with hands large enough to guide the bull during mating season.
Definitions
(chiefly, US, and, Canada, idiomatic, derogatory) A man, especially one who is divorced or estranged from his partner, who fails to provide monetary child support when he is legally required to do so.
“If I was his kidI too would be very annoyed at a deadbeat dad who kept going to work instead of focusing on his no.1 responsibility- the happiness of his child”
— Bluesky· May 2026“He's not a deadbeat dad, though. He just doesn't want to spend his vacation time on the family farm because he is the only one with hands large enough to guide the bull during mating season.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
(by extension, idiomatic, derogatory, informal) A man who is voluntarily absent and uncaring towards his children, especially one who leaves them entirely in their mother's care.
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(slang, chiefly, US) The father of a child in common, particularly one who did not marry the mother and provides little or no support for the mother and child.
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(North America, informal) fatherhood.