build a better mousetrap

verb

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.”

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Meanings

verbbuild a better mousetrap (third-person singular simple present builds a better mousetrap, present participle building a better mousetrap, simple past and past participle built a better mousetrap)

present singular third person builds a better mousetrap · participle present building a better mousetrap · participle past built a better mousetrap · past built a better mousetrap

  1. idiomaticTo 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.

    1 more example

    Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. misattributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson

Origin

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).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

build a better mousetrap. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/build%20a%20better%20mousetrap

MLA

“build a better mousetrap.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/build%20a%20better%20mousetrap. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “build a better mousetrap,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/build%20a%20better%20mousetrap.

Source: build a better mousetrap on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.