BBC quotes President Obama:

America is "not a deadbeat nation", US President Barack Obama has said, as he warned Republicans unconditionally to approve a rise in the US debt ceiling.

It appears to me that deadbeat in this context is an adjective.

The definition of deadbeat lists it solely as a noun. Has President Obama used deadbeat incorrectly?


No, it's fine: any noun can function as an "adjective", for example library in library book.

Technically it's called a noun adjunct or attributive noun and has a Wikipedia entry.