"welfare queen" meaning in English

See welfare queen in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: welfare queens [plural]
Etymology: 1970s, popularized during Ronald Reagan's 1976 presidential campaign, but not used by Reagan himself. Head templates: {{en-noun}} welfare queen (plural welfare queens)
  1. (US, derogatory) A woman collecting welfare, seen as doing so out of laziness, rather than genuine need. Wikipedia link: Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan 1976 presidential campaign, welfare queen Tags: US, derogatory Categories (topical): People Related terms: welfare bum, welfare parasite
    Sense id: en-welfare_queen-en-noun-wY5NG31y Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "1970s, popularized during Ronald Reagan's 1976 presidential campaign, but not used by Reagan himself.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "welfare queens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "welfare queen (plural welfare queens)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
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          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
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          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1976 February 29, “‘Welfare Queen’ Loses Her Cadillac Limousine”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "Miss Taylor, who is 40 years old, has been called Illinois’ “welfare queen” for allegedly defrauding Illinois and other states out of welfare payments while using a number of aliases.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Lisa Jones, Bulletproof Diva: Tales of Race, Sex, and Hair, Anchor Books, published 1995, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Martin isn't a typecast welfare queen sucking the nation dry, as Thomas seemed to suggest, but a single woman like his own mother, who worked low-paying jobs without benefits to support her family and turned to relatives for help.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Marian Wright Edelman, Measure of Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours, Beacon Press, published 1994, →ISBN, page 113:",
          "text": "Welfare queens can't hold a candle to corporate kings in raiding the public purse.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Earl Sewell, If I Were Your Boyfriend, Kimani TRU, published 2008, →ISBN, page 125:",
          "text": "[…] You need to go on back to the ghetto and make a bunch of ghetto babies and live off of welfare. I heard that you and your mama were welfare queens.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A woman collecting welfare, seen as doing so out of laziness, rather than genuine need."
      ],
      "id": "en-welfare_queen-en-noun-wY5NG31y",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
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        [
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        ],
        [
          "welfare",
          "welfare"
        ],
        [
          "laziness",
          "laziness"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, derogatory) A woman collecting welfare, seen as doing so out of laziness, rather than genuine need."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "welfare bum"
        },
        {
          "word": "welfare parasite"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
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      "wikipedia": [
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        "Ronald Reagan 1976 presidential campaign",
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    }
  ],
  "word": "welfare queen"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "1970s, popularized during Ronald Reagan's 1976 presidential campaign, but not used by Reagan himself.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "welfare queens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "welfare queen (plural welfare queens)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "welfare bum"
    },
    {
      "word": "welfare parasite"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:People"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1976 February 29, “‘Welfare Queen’ Loses Her Cadillac Limousine”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "Miss Taylor, who is 40 years old, has been called Illinois’ “welfare queen” for allegedly defrauding Illinois and other states out of welfare payments while using a number of aliases.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Lisa Jones, Bulletproof Diva: Tales of Race, Sex, and Hair, Anchor Books, published 1995, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Martin isn't a typecast welfare queen sucking the nation dry, as Thomas seemed to suggest, but a single woman like his own mother, who worked low-paying jobs without benefits to support her family and turned to relatives for help.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Marian Wright Edelman, Measure of Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours, Beacon Press, published 1994, →ISBN, page 113:",
          "text": "Welfare queens can't hold a candle to corporate kings in raiding the public purse.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Earl Sewell, If I Were Your Boyfriend, Kimani TRU, published 2008, →ISBN, page 125:",
          "text": "[…] You need to go on back to the ghetto and make a bunch of ghetto babies and live off of welfare. I heard that you and your mama were welfare queens.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A woman collecting welfare, seen as doing so out of laziness, rather than genuine need."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "welfare",
          "welfare"
        ],
        [
          "laziness",
          "laziness"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, derogatory) A woman collecting welfare, seen as doing so out of laziness, rather than genuine need."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "derogatory"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Ronald Reagan",
        "Ronald Reagan 1976 presidential campaign",
        "welfare queen"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "welfare queen"
}

Download raw JSONL data for welfare queen meaning in English (2.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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