mooches

verb

present tense third-person singular of mooch
1
as in begs
to live by relying on someone else's generosity or hospitality without sharing in the cost or responsibility he's always mooching off of his friends, even though he can easily pay his own way

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in sneaks
to move about in a sly or secret manner I suspect she's mooching around in the background and keeping an eye on us

Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in wanders
to move about from place to place aimlessly kids on vacation mooching about the house and looking for something to do

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for mooches
  1. begs
  2. sneaks
  3. wanders
  4. lurks
  5. roams
  6. slips
  7. drifts
  8. steals
Verb
  • But this begs the parallel question of what the current museum architecture arises from and reflects, and why the oceanic and the oligarchic logics of the museum’s reformation now travel together here.
    — George Baker, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Petticrew dressed like present-day Catherine in the flashback scene as Isabel begs her to inject her with heroin.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of begs
Verb
  • Manual friction sneaks in as systems fail to scale with growth or suffer from poor implementation.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Caminos, who is on a different floor, sneaks around on foot to try and evade detection.
    — Jay Peters, The Verge, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of sneaks
Verb
  • In one extended sequence, Delaney just wanders his lonely apartment, the ghost of his wife already haunting the place.
    — Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Kennedy wanders across the country, picking up a recipe for pozolé de camarón in Jalisco, chuletas de puerco en agridulce (sweet-and-sour pork chops) in Morelia, and chilaquiles en salsa verde from her longtime home state of Michoacán.
    — Scott Hocker, TheWeek, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of wanders
Verb
  • His line of work has taught him that danger lurks everywhere.
    — Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Enjoy this underappreciated gem—just beware the Frogman, who lurks in Stephen’s mind and on every page.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of lurks
Verb
  • Ellis’ autofiction book follows a group of high school students in 1980s Los Angeles as a serial killer roams the city.
    — Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 19 Aug. 2026
  • North Carolina will be under the microscope as long as Bill Belichick roams the sidelines in Chapel Hill.
    — Antonio Morales, New York Times, 5 June 2026
Definition of roams
Verb
  • At one point, Musashi slips on mud and slides headfirst through a crowd of Samurai.
    — Zackery Cuevas, PC Magazine, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Lunar eclipses occur when Earth slips between the sun and the moon and casts a shadow on the lunar surface.
    — Denise Chow, NBC news, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of slips
Verb
  • Prompt tuning, evaluation maintenance, regression testing when the underlying model updates and content that drifts out of date all require ongoing attention.
    — Antony P Gregory, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2026
  • As Ari drifts through the gathering, some guests seem to disappear.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of drifts
Verb
  • Jealousy and entitlement steer the actions of middling white writer June Hayward, who brazenly steals the manuscript of her much more talented friend, Chinese-American author, Athena Liu, after being the sole witness to Athena’s death.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2026
  • And, if the wins keep piling up, San Dimas might need to put a fence around his classroom so no one steals him away.
    — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of steals
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

moochers
mooches
mooching
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Mooches.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mooches. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of apiary

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 4
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
anagrams on a chalk board
Word Builder Quiz Vol. 2 Pick the letter that when added to a word will ma...
See All