lab rat
American-
Also called laboratory rat. a rat, typically the Norway rat, used by scientists for biological research.
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Informal. a laboratory researcher, often a graduate student, whose dedication to the research supplants other interests and activities, including personal relationships.
The loneliest guy in the room is the one who’s in love with a lab rat.
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Informal. the subject of any sort of experiment.
Not all the human lab rats in this study fully understood the potential consequences.
Etymology
Origin of lab rat
First recorded in 1965–70
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.
Fittingly, Pattinson hunches his shoulders and curls his upper lip: an obedient lab rat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2025
What’s more, it’s difficult to be your own lab rat: Most people with periods don’t have a textbook 28-day cycle, with ovulation falling on Day 14.
From Slate ● Jun. 3, 2023
But, in a milestone, the device showed remarkable success in a lab rat.
From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2023
Grace's mother, Angela, said "it was incredibly unpleasant" experience when the protesters accused her of using her daughter "as a lab rat" at Cardiff's Bayside mass vaccination centre.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2021
“Almost six months,” Maya said, and for the first time, she looked almost relaxed, not like a lab rat in a cage, waiting to see what would happen next.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
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.
