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mousetrap

[mous-trap] / ˈmaʊsˌtræp /
















Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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If I can create a better mousetrap, because I’m observing something that has just been accepted, and I can do it better, then I will go into that industry.

From The Wall Street Journal May 27, 2026

A bit like setting and later triggering a mousetrap.

From BBC May 7, 2026

They were flawed individuals, but they had a crucial insight into how to build a better mousetrap.

From Salon Jul. 6, 2023

"Wagner troops climbed into Bakhmut like rats into a mousetrap," Oleksander Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, told troops at the Bakhmut front this week.

From Reuters May 20, 2023

In one hole, he’d found only a tangle of leaves and berries, and in another, a mousetrap, which snapped on his thumb.

From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech

Firms that would have succeeded under any circumstances—because they’ve developed fantastic new mousetraps, or because they’re exposed to the discipline of global trade—continue to grow.

From The Wall Street Journal Jan. 8, 2026

There are more than 4,400 mousetrap patents in the United States, but it is difficult to find designs specifically for catching rats — most are just bigger mousetraps.

From New York Times Feb. 27, 2023

But the gatekeepers of phony commercial solutions to existential violence — such as better helmets, no more effective than better mousetraps — want us to focus on only one aspect of football harm.

From Salon Jan. 14, 2023

Lay down a few mousetraps or use repellents that they are not fans of.

From Seattle Times Dec. 21, 2022

We did not have any mousetraps or rat poison in the house, and my mother had not been up to anything suspicious during the night.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

Princeton's President Robert F. Goheen, 45, was not about to be mousetrapped.

From Time Magazine Archive

More often than they like to remember, defending linemen have sifted through to smear Passer Graham, found themselves mousetrapped behind the line of scrimmage while 235-lb.

From Time Magazine Archive

Once there, the visitors often could not leave: "mousetrapped," with their computers' "back" and "close" commands disabled.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Italians, they reported, were mousetrapped and divided into small units, became easy prey of Greek mountain infantry.

From Time Magazine Archive

He couldn't let Gramps take the mousetrapped anti-gerasone—but, if he warned Gramps about it, Gramps would certainly make life in the apartment, which was merely insufferable now, harrowing.

From The Big Trip Up Yonder by Vonnegut, Kurt




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