mickey mouse


adjective(often initial capital letters)Informal.
  1. trite and commercially slick in character; corny: mickey mouse music.

  2. useless, insignificant, or worthless: mickey mouse activities just to fill up one's time.

  1. trivial or petty: mickey mouse regulations.

Origin of mickey mouse

1
First recorded in 1930–35; after the animated cartoon character created by Walt Disney, originally with reference to the banal dance-band music played as background to the cartoons

Words Nearby mickey mouse

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use mickey mouse in a sentence

  • It was covered in obscene doodles of mickey mouse with a huge erection, Minnie dangling from a noose.

    Makers | Cory Doctorow

British Dictionary definitions for Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse

adjective(sometimes not capitals) slang
  1. ineffective; trivial; insignificant: he settled for a Mickey Mouse job instead of something challenging

  2. mainly US and Canadian (of music, esp that of dance bands) mechanical or spiritless

Origin of Mickey Mouse

1
C20: from the name of a cartoon character created by Walt Disney, known for his simple-minded attitudes

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse

A cartoon character created by Walt Disney. Mickey's image is so widespread that he has achieved the status of myth.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.