Idiom
a dime a dozen
Meaning
So common as to be practically or almost worthless.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Cheap souvenirs are a dime a dozen here.”
“Online courses have become a dime a dozen, so you need to check which ones are actually good.”
“In an age when opinions are a dime a dozen, she valued the few friends who spoke with genuine thought.”
Examples
simple
“Cheap souvenirs are a dime a dozen here.”
contextual
“Online courses have become a dime a dozen, so you need to check which ones are actually good.”
complex
“In an age when opinions are a dime a dozen, she valued the few friends who spoke with genuine thought.”
Origin
19th-century American; after the dime was minted (1796), goods were commonly advertised at 'a dime a dozen', which came to mean cheap and plentiful.
Key words
Related idioms
- Level
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Updated