Meanings
- A form of social security, whereby all citizens or qualified residents, receive a sum of money on a regular schedule unconditionally.
We should explore ideas like universal basic income to give everyone a cushion to try new things.
2017 May 25, Mark Zuckerberg, “Mark Zuckerberg’s Commencement address at Harvard”, in The Harvard Gazette2 more examples
Silicon Valley has, paradoxically, become one of the most vocal proponents of universal basic income (UBI). […] UBI becomes a consolation prize for those whose lives are disrupted.
2016 June 22, Jathan Sadowski, “Why Silicon Valley is embracing universal basic income”, in The GuardianAlso known as Universal Basic Income, this sunny concept holds that a robot-driven economy may someday produce an unlimited bounty of cool stuff while simultaneously releasing us from the drudgery of old-fashioned labor, leaving our government-funded children to enjoy bountiful lives of leisure as interpretive dancers or practitioners of bee-sting therapy, as touted by Gwyneth Paltrow.
2017 December 11, Alex Williams, “Will Robots Take Our Children’s Jobs?”, in The New York Times, →ISSNSynonyms: UBI, basic income
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA form of social security, whereby all citizens or qualified residents, receive a sum of money on a regular schedule unconditionally.
Cite this entry
universal basic income. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/universal%20basic%20income
“universal basic income.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/universal%20basic%20income. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “universal basic income,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/universal%20basic%20income.
Source: universal basic income on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.