mickey mouse

adjective(often initial capital letters)Informal.

trite and commercially slick in character; corny: mickey mouse music.
useless, insignificant, or worthless: mickey mouse activities just to fill up one's time.

trivial or petty: mickey mouse regulations.

Origin of mickey mouse

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use mickey mouse in a sentence

He said he spent his time doing “mickey mouse make-work,” digging though old records for long-abandoned well sites.
Two Texas Regulators Tried to Enforce the Rules. They Were Fired. | David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News | December 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
I started with mickey mouse, and I kept at it until my Mickey looked like the one in the cartoons and the comic books.
There’s Nothing Wrong—and a Lot That’s Right—About Copying Other Artists | Malcolm Jones | January 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
It happened when, having become smugly satisfied with my rendering of mickey mouse, I turned to Donald Duck.
There’s Nothing Wrong—and a Lot That’s Right—About Copying Other Artists | Malcolm Jones | January 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
There have been several stages of “I feel old” when it comes to The mickey mouse Club.
It’s Been 20 Years Since Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Ryan Gosling Joined the Mickey Mouse Club | Kevin Fallon | November 15, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
She did have some experience already, with The mickey mouse Club, but this was her first major music video.
Britney Spears’s ‘…Baby One More Time’ Turns 15: The Making of an Iconic Music Video | Kevin Fallon | October 23, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

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

ineffective; trivial; insignificant: he settled for a Mickey Mouse job instead of something challenging
mainly US and Canadian (of music, esp that of dance bands) mechanical or spiritless

Origin of Mickey Mouse

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.

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