build a better mousetrap en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
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).
Meanings
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(idiomatic) To create a new product, method, or idea that is better than an existing version of something already common or widely used.
Of all the inventors to obtain patents, only a few have really built a better mousetrap.
Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. misattributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| built a better mousetrap | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| built a better mousetrap | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| building a better mousetrap | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| builds a better mousetrap | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic |