How to Use hanger-on in a Sentence

hanger-on

noun
  • There's not been anybody — no girls or hangers-on — backstage at my shows since then.
    — Marisa Sullivan, Peoplemag, 30 Aug. 2023
  • Tiny hangers-on are tucked into pockets and cavort in crevices.
    — Jeremy Lybarger, Artforum, 2 June 2026
  • And along with the song, the Roy dynasty and its hangers-on keeps bouncing around my skull.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes, 2 Apr. 2023
  • No pop artist has ever survived haters, handlers and hangers-on without a scratch.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 30 Jan. 2026
  • Many hangers-on were so hip that the famous artists imitated them, not the other way around.
    — Ian Penman, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023
  • There was no party in the studio — no flowing libations, no room full of hangers-on.
    — Danielle Amir Jackson Malike Sidibe, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2023
  • Every single character in the show — as well as the cast of hangers-on — was filthy, stinking rich.
    — Vulture, 30 May 2023
  • Most of the remaining hangers-on were staging going-out-of-business sales.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 1 May 2026
  • Meynecke said his footage suggested the whales found their hangers-on annoying.
    — CNN Money, 8 Nov. 2025
  • Their wealth involves a whole galaxy of servants and hangers-on who might feel threatened by a big change in their patron’s status quo.
    — Christian Holub, EW.com, 20 Sep. 2024
  • The Wild Card is mind-numbing showcase of boxing photos, sweat, noise and hangers-on.
    — Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2025
  • Of course, the no-account crew that hangs around him — hangers-on is a better way to describe them — can get in the way of even his best intentions.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 3 May 2023
  • To point to the existence of a few fanatic hangers-on is hardly to indict a movement or its methods.
    — Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post, 1 Sep. 2023
  • The disaffected machismo of Nadie seemed to exhaust the man taunting haters and hangers-on.
    — Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 13 Jan. 2025
  • The book orbits around an art scandal that pulls in collectors, curators, philosophers and hangers-on.
    — CBS News, 14 Apr. 2026
  • Mulligan plays Pamela, a quirky hanger-on of the Catton family.
    — Emily Zemler, Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2023
  • Matthew becomes Oliver’s bro, his hanger-on, his social-media camera buddy.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 29 Jan. 2025
  • Matthew is a classic hanger-on, whose own identity is mutable, molding himself to whoever is around him and shining their light on him.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 28 Jan. 2025
  • The world has gotten a glimpse of the fawning, skeezy shamelessness of his famous hangers-on, but not enough to criminally implicate them.
    — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 14 Feb. 2026
  • In a government that is already owned and operated by far-right cranks and hangers-on, Bongino can only do so much damage on his own.
    — Ross Rosenfeld, Newsweek, 26 Feb. 2025
  • And among the security staff, assorted suits and other hangers-on, the money promised to the players disappeared.
    — Nick Miller, New York Times, 17 June 2026
  • Beasley offered one last bit of advice for young players entering the league with the demands of their team, family, and potential hangers-on waiting.
    — Gary Washburn, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Aug. 2023
  • Let the succession battle begin, as the brothers, and various family hangers-on, duke it out for daddy's approval.
    — Leena Kim, Town & Country, 25 May 2023
  • Unlike other, sycophantic portions of right-wing media, Kirk isn’t simply a hanger-on to the conservative elite.
    — Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2024
  • The pop artist rose to fame by making striking screenprints from others’ photographs, assisted by young artists and hangers-on in a space aptly called the Factory.
    — Byirina Ivanova, Fortune, 6 Jan. 2024
  • In spite of attention from glossies such as Esquire, the area was never overrun by hangers-on—there was always a community but never really a scene.
    — Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2023
  • Stars can bring one to two guests on the studio dime and a personal publicist, but that number is fungible, and the bigger the actor, the larger the retinue of handlers and hangers-on.
    — Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 1 Mar. 2023
  • The entire sports industrial complex had descended on the city — executives, athletes, agencies, every form of hanger-on.
    — Ben Strauss, Washington Post, 25 July 2024
  • Travers imagined that George would face pressure from management and hangers-on to change as an artist for Vegas, increasing his trepidation and resentment.
    — Fawnia Soo Hoo, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Aug. 2023
  • Mike Appel led the session from behind the board, with the engineer Louis Lahav at his side and a scattering of staff, friends, and other hangers-on lurking here and there.
    — Peter Ames Carlin, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hanger-on.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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