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:
The U.S. men aren’t a powerhouse, but they’re not a doormat, either.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
Most humans would rather be a doormat than a battering ram, regardless of the urgency or circumstance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2025
Read: Meta’s stock is the new ‘Magnificent Seven’ doormat.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2025
Atlanta closed with a 1-1 draw against Eastern Conference doormat DC United that allowed Atlanta to avoid the bottom of the table.
From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 2025
I can’t explain this, except to remind you that I lived with a bully and a doormat.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
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
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
"We are braced for a surge in abandonments once higher electricity bills start landing on people's doormats," the spokesperson said.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2022
“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
Definitions 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.
