Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

build a better mousetrap

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.32 in modern English

Syllables
build a -bet-ter -mouse-trap
IPA
30
Scrabble Score
21
Letters
5
Syllables
13
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To create a new product, method, or idea that is better than an existing version of something already common or widely used.

Example Sentences

Etymology

A shortening of build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. Derived from the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods. (1855).

Inflected Forms

builds a better mousetrap (present, singular) building a better mousetrap (participle, present) built a better mousetrap (participle, past) built a better mousetrap (past)

Questions

What does build a better mousetrap mean?
To create a new product, method, or idea that is better than an existing version of something already common or widely used.
Where does build a better mousetrap come from?
A shortening of build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. Derived from the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods. (1855).

How to pronounce build a better mousetrap

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