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• mickey mouse
  mickey mouse

  adjective

  trite and commercially slick in character; corny.
• Mickey Mouse
  Mickey Mouse

  adjective

  ineffective; trivial; insignificant

mickey mouse

American  

adjective

(often initial capital letters)

1. trite and commercially slick in character; corny.

   mickey mouse music.

2. useless, insignificant, or worthless.

   mickey mouse activities just to fill up one's time.

3. trivial or petty.

   mickey mouse regulations.

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Mickey Mouse British  

adjective

1. ineffective; trivial; insignificant

   he settled for a Mickey Mouse job instead of something challenging

2. (of music, esp that of dance bands) mechanical or spiritless

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Mickey Mouse Cultural  

1. 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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Etymology

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mickey mouse Mickey Mouse

He was reportedly wearing jeans and a mickey mouse shirt when he escaped.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 14, 2016

I need you to perform at her party with specifically a minnie mouse dead-mow-five head… not a mickey mouse dead-mow-five head.

From Time ● Mar. 2, 2016

"There's no economy in the world can grow and provide public services with air, you know, it's mickey mouse economics."

From BBC ● Jan. 4, 2015

I think what is happening from a public point of view looks a bit mickey mouse and that is not good for the reputation of the university.

From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2011

Doesn't necessarily have the belittling connotations of mainstream slang "Oh, that's just mickey mouse stuff!"; sometimes trivial programs can be very useful. :micro-: pref.

From The Jargon File, Version 2.9.10, 01 Jul 1992 by Eric S. Raymond

Lululemon Athletica puzzled customers and investors by selling Mickey Mouse sweatshirts, part of a partnership with Disney.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

Russell, 50, has been at it even longer than that: She hoofed it on “The All New Mickey Mouse Club” at 15.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

“We were in our teens coming down to New York on the train or on the bus to audition for things, like ‘The Mickey Mouse Club,’” he told the outlet.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

If I talked like Mickey Mouse, the thin breathiness that plagued my voice went away.

From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2026

He was more American than Mickey Mouse and just as old.

From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez