as in to beg
to persuade someone to give you (something) for free
He spent his time trying to cadge drinks from the customers. She cadged money from her sister.
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Recent Examples of cadge
Most reporters struggled to cadge a ride to the more distant fronts with the dirty soldiers who kept Franco’s forces at bay.
—
Literary Hub, 24 Feb. 2026
Schwarzenegger made a pilgrimage to Washington to cadge more money from the government, but came home empty-handed.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2025
Ansa works in a Helsinki supermarket, collecting expired food and cadging the odd casserole for her dinner.
—Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 4 Dec. 2023
One weekend, a colleague cadged a Chrysler minivan.
—Brett Berk, Car and Driver, 1 May 2023
See All Example Sentences for cadge
Literary Hub, 24 Feb. 2026
Schwarzenegger made a pilgrimage to Washington to cadge more money from the government, but came home empty-handed.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2025
Ansa works in a Helsinki supermarket, collecting expired food and cadging the odd casserole for her dinner.
—Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 4 Dec. 2023
One weekend, a colleague cadged a Chrysler minivan.
—Brett Berk, Car and Driver, 1 May 2023
See All Example Sentences for cadge
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cadge
Verb
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What made Grande stick out back then was a limber voice that begged to be dressed in sounds that swing.—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
29 May 2026
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In a story this complicated, where everyone from a little girl to a grown man from Boston is begging for their humanity, even Howard Stevens deserves some, too.—
Lyz Lenz,
Rolling Stone,
28 May 2026
Verb
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Lured by the promise of well-paying jobs, hundreds of thousands of people like them have been coerced into engaging in scams such as posing as women online, cultivating intimate relationships with foreigners to defraud them of their savings.—
Kayla Hayempour,
NBC news,
8 June 2026
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Safety regulations – intended to constrain corporate power – in authoritarian regimes become tools to coerce compliance.—
Michael Gregory,
The Conversation,
4 June 2026
Verb
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Speakers at the council meeting all requested answers from the council regarding why the event was canceled.—
Maven Navarro,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
3 June 2026
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When a party requests that a proceeding be sealed, a judge will often solicit input from the other side and allow third parties, such as the public and news media, to also provide input.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 June 2026
Verb
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Arrest comes 40 years later Once they were done eating and interviewing Nash, the team asked him to go outside and look at some photos.—
Saleen Martin,
USA Today,
5 June 2026
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The police are asking anyone with additional information about this incident to contact the Robbery-Homicide Division, Valley Section, Dets.—
Emily St. Martin,
Los Angeles Times,
5 June 2026
Verb
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In another Amsterdam photo, a pair of identical world globes, recalling Ghirri’s passion for cartography and atlases, rest on matching supports to conjure that oldest of surrealist tropes, a pair of staring eyes.—
James Quandt,
Artforum,
2 June 2026
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Just as the white shores of Destin, Florida beckon with the allure of beachy dreams, this dish will conjure visions of your most memorable shoreside experience.—
Jenna Sims,
Southern Living,
2 June 2026
Verb
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On top of that, Nico is also, quite obviously, just mooching off/clinging to Mindy because he got cut off by his family.—
Jessica M. Goldstein,
Vulture,
19 Dec. 2025
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The Netflix rep says there is no correlation between this change and people mooching off other people's accounts.—
Boone Ashworth,
Wired News,
1 Dec. 2025
Verb
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The administration has cracked down on most forms of migration for foreigners — demanding that bonds of up to $15,000 be paid for visa processing in some, mainly African, countries and requiring years of personal history, including social media accounts, to be vetted.—
Matthew Lee,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2026
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Monday’s ruling ensures that California employers can continue to recruit foreign employees for roles that require specialized skills, Bonta said.—
Haley Parsley
June 8,
Sacbee.com,
9 June 2026
Verb
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Hilton has demanded Governor Newsom create an emergency corps to speed up ballot counting, a request Newsom's office dismissed.—
Terry Collins,
USA Today,
6 June 2026
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For Kenny, finally becoming an uncle carried a quiet sense of disbelief as much as joy — a full-circle ending to a process that had demanded so much of both siblings in different ways.—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
PEOPLE,
6 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cadge.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cadge. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.
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