free ride

noun

1

: a benefit obtained at another's expense or without the usual cost or effort

… a group of students who have been assigned to do a report where only one student cares, does all the work and the others go along for a free ride …

—Roger T. Johnson and David W. Johnson

also : soft or easy treatment

Generally speaking, the press has given Jacobson a free ride.

—Spy

2

: an arrangement (such as a scholarship) providing a student with tuition at no cost

athletes getting a free ride at college

College officials hope that the idea of a free ride to a new engineering school with lofty ambitions will attract a highly accomplished student body …

—Jeffrey Mervis

free ride intransitive verb

free rider noun

Examples of free ride in a Sentence

The state university offered him a free ride for all four years of college—his football scholarship would cover tuition, room and board, and other expenses.

companies getting a free ride at the taxpayer's expense

Word History

First Known Use

1882, in the meaning defined at sense 1