hanger-on

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

When Thoreau set out for his first of his three chronicled trips to Cape Cod in 1849, he was a virtually unknown hanger-on to America’s foremost public intellectual, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026

Moussaoui “was trying to write a role for himself into history,” Mr. MacMahon said, “when the truth is, he was an al-Qaeda hanger-on and a nuisance to everybody.”

From Washington Post • Mar. 29, 2023

Jamie saw himself as the fresh young star and Roy as the aging, hanger-on standing in his way.

From Salon • Mar. 25, 2023

Michael Stuhlbarg plays a disconcerting fellow feeder the couple meet along with filmmaker David Gordon Green in a particularly disturbing turn as a Renfield-like hanger-on.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 17, 2022

She was with that whole Zach Powers crew, and not as a hanger-on either.

From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman