gravy train

noun

Synonyms of gravy trainnext
: a much exploited source of easy money
also : gravy sense 2a
And more than half of all contracts are renewed repeatedly—a circumstance referred to by insiders as the from-here-to-eternity gravy train. Jack Anderson

Examples of gravy train in a Sentence

They're trying to get on board the gravy train. the new tax law offers a real gravy train to certain categories of investors
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The most successful and lucrative family vlogs are indiscreet almost by definition—and yet the wrong kind of indiscretion can derail the whole gravy train. Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2026 The Tribune reports on how the legal system is failing people who have been wrongly accused of crimes and how some unscrupulous attorneys have turned the system into a gravy train for themselves. Chicago Tribune, 4 Apr. 2026 Establishing an entirely new and competing agency is merely the pursuit of a bureaucratic gravy train, and providing it with incentives to abuse power in order to boost its own coffers is an invitation to tyranny. Adam Summers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Apr. 2026 After years of relative prosperity in the original Big East, the breakup of that league in the five years before Benedict was hired left the university standing on the platform as the power-conference gravy train pulled away. Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 8 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for gravy train

Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of gravy train was in 1914

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Gravy train.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gravy%20train. Accessed 7 Apr. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster