3

I'm looking for a noun for somone who allows others to take advantage of them, similar in meaning to "sucker" or "sap" but less dated. For example, what would you call the one person who does work on a group project or the single responsible person among a bunch of freeloaders?

Improve this question
5
  • 1
    What makes you think sucker or sap are not understood or used by younger generations?
    – fev
    Commented 16 hours ago
  • Which younger generations? Where?
    – Stuart F
    Commented 15 hours ago
  • 1
    Adjectives, offered here, are 'gullible' and 'naive'; if you require a noun only, please indicate this. Have you tried looking in a thesaurus? Pushover is offered here, in an earlier thread.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented 13 hours ago
  • I'm in my 50s in the US, and "sucker" and "sap" sound to me like things that would be said in a black and white movie like Guys and Dolls. Google Books Ngram Viewer confirms that their usage in the last century peaked in the 1920s and 1930s. I'll rephrase my question.
    – Ellen Spertus
    Commented 12 hours ago
  • Answers go in the answer box: comments providing answers will be removed. Comments have been moved to chat; do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments. Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer, on English Language & Usage Meta, or in English Language & Usage Chat. Comments continuing discussion may be removed.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented 11 hours ago

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
5

The only noun I'd consider appropriate here is doormat, in the metaphorical usage, which 'feels' less dated† to me:

doormat [noun]

...

[2] a submissive person who allows others to dominate them.

  • to put up with such treatment you must be either a saint or a doormat_

[ODE; courtesy of Google.]

Other synonyms, like 'patsy' and 'pushover', feel also too dated and/or too hypernymic. Though 'doormat' in the metaphorical usage cannot itself claim to be modern†; The Online Etymology Dictionary has it dating from at the latest 1861.

Improve this answer
5

Where I hail from, that would be a chump:

chump noun
informal : a person who is easily tricked : a stupid or foolish person
Source: Merriam-Webster

You can find sample usages at Merriam-Webster’s How to Use chump in a Sentence. Here are a couple:

The former Gladiators who felt exploited by the show don’t want to be seen as chumps.
Stuck working in the city like a chump while your friends make their weekend treks to coastal properties?

Wiktionary list these as synonyms of chump:

(a gullible person): gull, sucker, dupe, sap, dummy, patsy, pigeon

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .