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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.

See Examples For:

A bit like setting and later triggering a mousetrap.

From BBC May 7, 2026

“They say they’re building a better mousetrap to handle more business without laying on additional cost, but you can’t really test that until the business comes,” Seidl said.

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 30, 2025

"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

The matter is more complicated than it appears, and those who try to capitalize on the expiring “Steamboat Willie” copyright could easily end up in a legal mousetrap.

From New York Times Dec. 27, 2022

Suddenly I was on the floor, and the mousetrap was on my big toe.

From "Fourth Grade Rats" by Jerry Spinelli

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

Local volunteers pitched in to help build the contraptions, which are triggered by mousetraps and fashioned out of PVC pipe and chicken wire.

From Seattle Times May 12, 2023

Partly because of this, Woodstream, the country’s largest rat and mousetrap manufacturer, sells some 60 million mousetraps a year and nine million rat traps, according to Miguel Nistal, the company’s president and chief executive.

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

He was frozen halfway up his stepladder, placing a new case of mousetraps next to a ceiling fan.

From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles

Last week, mousetrapped by George McGovern, whom he admires, New York Times Columnist Tom Wicker performed a manful act.

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

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

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

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 Kurt Vonnegut




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