free ride

See also: freeride and free-ride

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

free ride (plural free rides)

1. (idiomatic) An opportunity or benefit which has no cost, especially one enjoyed or undertaken at the expense of others.
   • 1980 March 31, "The Shaky House of Cards," Time:

     Previously, shoppers were given a free ride on charges until the end of the month. Now interest will start on the day of purchase on accounts with balances.

   • 2006 April 9, "A Yankees Station in the Bronx," New York Times (retrieved 11 June 2009):

     Financially, the two New York teams have not asked for the sort of free ride at taxpayer expense that has been commonplace elsewhere.

Verb

free ride (third-person singular simple present free rides, present participle free riding, simple past free rode, past participle free ridden)

1. To take a free ride; to take advantage of a benefit without contributing.
   • 1999, J. Samuel Barkin, ‎George E. Shambaugh, Anarchy and the Environment, →ISBN:

     Finally, the level of excludahility of a CPR should affect the propensity to free ride.

   • 2000, André Blais, To Vote Or Not to Vote?: The Merits and Limits of Rational Choice Theory, →ISBN, pages 119-120:

     Less than half the participants chose to free ride in each of the first two experiments, but the great majority (77 percent) did in the last.

   • 2013, Kenneth Godwin, ‎Scott H. Ainsworth, ‎Erik Godwin, Lobbying and Policymaking, →ISBN:

     If an issue involves a purely private good such as a regulatory waiver or a tax loophole that would benefit only a single corporation, there is no opportunity to free ride.

Derived terms

• free rider

See also

• freeload

References

• “free ride”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.