Word.ws English Dictionary

building a better mousetrap

building a better mousetrap is the present participle and gerund of build a better mousetrap.

Meaning of build a better mousetrap

Verb

build 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)

  1. (idiomatic) To create a new product, method, or idea that is better than an existing version of something already common or widely used.
    • Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. misattributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson

Questions about building a better mousetrap

What is building a better mousetrap the present participle and gerund of?
Building a better mousetrap is the present participle and gerund of build a better mousetrap.

Words near building a better mousetrap in the dictionary

  1. builders' teas
  2. buildest
  3. buildeth
  4. buildin'
  5. building
  6. building a better mousetrap
  7. building a case
  8. building air castles
  9. building and pest
  10. building block
  11. building blocks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: building a better mousetrap (page history and authors); build a better mousetrap (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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