deadhead
/'dedhed/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- A vehicle traveling empty: A train, bus, or taxi that is making a trip without carrying any passengers or cargo.
- A nonproductive person: A person who is not enterprising, does not contribute their fair share, or is not paying their way, often implying they are a burden on a payroll or system.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- The company ran a deadhead back to the depot to pick up more passengers. (The bus made an empty trip back to its starting point.)
- The manager complained about the deadheads on the team who weren't pulling their weight. (The manager complained about unproductive members of the team.)
Advanced Usage
- In transportation/logistics: Refers specifically to the movement of an empty vehicle to reposition it for its next job.
- The pilot flew a deadhead leg to get to the airport where her next flight originated.
- In a business/organizational context: Used critically to describe an employee or member who contributes little value.
- The restructuring aimed to identify and remove the deadheads from the organization.
Variants and Related Words
- Deadhead (verb, informal): To drive or travel as a deadhead (an empty vehicle).
- The truck had to deadhead 200 miles to its next loading point.
- Deadheading (noun): The act of operating an empty vehicle or the practice of removing spent flowers from a plant (note: this is a separate, common gardening term not directly related to the core definitions above).
Synonyms
- Noun (for empty vehicle): Empty run, positioning move.
- Noun (for unproductive person): Slacker, freeloader, non-performer, drone.
Related Phrases
- To be a deadhead: To habitually be unproductive or to travel for free.
- He got a reputation for being a deadhead after always catching free rides with the crew.
Noun
- a train or bus or taxi traveling empty
- a nonenterprising person who is not paying his way
- the deadheads on the payroll should be eased out as fast as possible