welfare queen

noun

A woman collecting welfare, seen as doing so out of laziness, rather than genuine need.

Meanings

nounwelfare queen (plural welfare queens)

plural welfare queens

  1. USderogatoryA woman collecting welfare, seen as doing so out of laziness, rather than genuine need.

    Welfare queens can't hold a candle to corporate kings in raiding the public purse.

    1994, Marian Wright Edelman, Measure of Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours, Beacon Press, published 1994, →ISBN, page 113
    3 more examples

    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.

    1976 February 29, “‘Welfare Queen’ Loses Her Cadillac Limousine”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

    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.

    1994, Lisa Jones, Bulletproof Diva: Tales of Race, Sex, and Hair, Anchor Books, published 1995, →ISBN

    […] 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.”

    2008, Earl Sewell, If I Were Your Boyfriend, Kimani TRU, published 2008, →ISBN, page 125

Origin

First appears c. the 1970s, popularized during Ronald Reagan's 1976 presidential campaign, but not used by Reagan himself.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

welfare queen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/welfare%20queen

MLA

“welfare queen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/welfare%20queen. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “welfare queen,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/welfare%20queen.

Source: welfare queen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.