Thesaurus results for MOOCHING

mooching

verb

present participle of mooch

as in begging

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

as in sneaking

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

as in wandering

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

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.

Recent Examples of mooching 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for mooching

Verb

After migrating from Seoul to Montana as a young child, Suea first fell in love with fashion as a teenager growing up in New Jersey, begging her parents to take her to the mall to visit the Abercrombie & Fitch store after church on Sundays.

— Violet Conroy, Vogue, 15 July 2026
Suddenly, the same kids who had been teasing me were instead begging for the next chapter.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 July 2026

Definition of begging

Verb

Just a few weeks into the war, one of the Persian Gulf’s top oil producers quietly began sneaking its crude out of the Strait of Hormuz.

— Weilun Soon, Fortune, 5 July 2026
But neither those measures nor Friday’s sizzling temperatures stopped fans from gathering in hopes of sneaking a peak at their longtime idol and sending Swift their well wishes.

— Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2026

Definition of sneaking

Verb

The fishing village has become the latest tourist destination to introduce a fine for anyone found wandering its streets bare-chested or in swimwear.

— Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 11 July 2026
Ángel Jesús Romero Audivet’s family has spent days wandering among the injured and the dead left behind by the earthquakes in Venezuela.

— Sonia Osorio, Miami Herald, 9 July 2026

Definition of wandering

Verb

Scientists tracking humpbacks off the coast of Australia have captured rare footage that shows clutches of the freeloading fish peeling away from their host in what looks like a high-speed game of chicken, just moments before the whale breaches.

— CNN Money, CNN Money, 8 Nov. 2025
The specter of freeloading corporations using more space, water, and energy for AI processing has defined the race for the 30th House of Delegates district, well outside DC.

— David Weigel, semafor.com, 13 Oct. 2025

Definition of freeloading

Verb

This investigation not only revealed the four lurking white dwarfs, but also demonstrated that one of these systems, G 203-47, located just 25 light-years away, has some curious characteristics.

— Robert Lea, Space.com, 14 July 2026
The key to making all of this work is really Deutch, who knows how to lace an all-American sweetness with a sense of anarchy lurking right below the surface.

— David Fear, Rolling Stone, 9 July 2026

Definition of lurking

Verb

Yes, the likes of Julio Torres and Andrew Scott were casually roaming about, but even more typical was the sight of friends throughout the venue unexpectedly running into one another.

— Tom Smyth, Vulture, 14 July 2026
This is because sandboxes can become infected with fecal microbes and parasites from wild and domesticated animals—including millions of free-roaming cats.

— Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 13 July 2026

Definition of roaming

Verb

Those charges stem from Vick allegedly breaking into a former girlfriend’s home, and he is accused of stealing multiple electronic devices, as well as unscrewing the camera that had been located on the porch of her home.

— Ben Wheeler, Kansas City Star, 13 July 2026
Do resigned and admitted to stealing millions in discretionary funds meant to help seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic, instead directing the money to a nonprofit connected to him, according to an LAist report.

— Kyle Martin, Mercury News, 13 July 2026

Definition of stealing

Browse Nearby Words

mooches

mooching

mood

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Mooching.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mooching. Accessed 17 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of mooching

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

obdurate

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

Popular in Wordplay

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 17

Popular

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

Games & Quizzes