noun
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a mat, placed at the entrance to a building, for wiping dirt from shoes
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informal a person who offers little resistance to ill-treatment by others
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of doormat
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 note the attackers left under his doormat read "No Data Centers."
From Barron's ● May 19, 2026
She’s instructing it to read subtle cues, helping steer it toward emotional intelligence so it won’t act like a bully or a doormat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
Don’t miss: Meta’s stock is the new ‘Magnificent Seven’ doormat.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 18, 2025
Cybersecurity experts have likened the idea of creating a backdoor to someone leaving their house keys under their doormat - essentially creating a vulnerability which anyone, including bad actors, can exploit.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2025
A reproachful, fly-haunted face locks eyes with you from the doormat, pleading for you to sign up.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
But at the college level, the powerhouses typically remained the powerhouses while schools like Indiana were their doormats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 18, 2026
Labour MP Liam Byrne, chair of the committee, said: "It's high time for the circus of recent weeks to end and for cheques to start landing on the doormats of innocent victims."
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2024
Along with, say, People, Time and National Geographic, it has long lined the dentist offices, neighbors’ doormats and coffee tables of your life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2023
The business offers potentially higher margins for Amazon than its main consumer business, as making a smaller number of bulk deliveries is cheaper, per unit, than getting millions of small parcels to individuals' doormats.
From Reuters ● Apr. 20, 2023
“They’re not doormats, but they know they’re up against kids who have had more resources. I’ve seen it. They feel intimidated sometimes, even by kids from Pennsbury.”
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
