English, baby!

dime a dozen

Date: Jun 28 2001

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Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“heartthrobs are a dime a dozen”
—Brad Pitt, movie actor, talking about being referred to as a heartthrob.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

common, not special, easy to find, not rare, unexceptional
(A “dime” is equal to ten cents, or one tenth of one dollar, which is a small amount of money. A “dozen” is 12 of something. So, the phrase a dime a dozen literally means that something costs less than one cent – indicating that it is very common and very cheap.)

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

You can use “a dime a dozen” to describe anything that is common in your life. If you see hundreds of the same thing every day, that thing is probably a dime a dozen. Cellular/mobile phones could be a dime a dozen, because it seems like everybody has one.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

””I’m getting tired of action movies. They bore me. I mean, car chase scenes are a dime a dozen these days. It’s just not interesting to watch cars crash.”“

””Low-paying jobs are a dime a dozen. But it’s hard to find jobs that will make you rich.”“

””Boy bands like ‘NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys are a dime a dozen. There are so many of them…”“

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

A dime a dozen means something common, not very special, not very rare. We can say it whenever we can see it everywhere or quite often.
by Ji-Hee (Missouri)
I guess a dime a dozen means that they are easily obtained.
by Shannon
It is related to things you can find or get easy. Feelings or attitudes people can show with no bother.
by Mario (Tampico, Mexico)
The meaning of “heartthrobs are a dime a dozen” is that young atractive famous people, like him, are very numerous or common and therefore of very less value.
by Alfonso
I guess it might mean ” very easily available” one doesnt have to put up a big fight to achieve that.
by Amit
Not real amazing thing, just many combined common stuff,which will be forget/spent soon.
by Niki
When something is “a dime a dozen”, it means that there are so many of them available that you’ll have no problem finding one. Sometimes it also gives the idea that because there are so many of them, you can get them for a low price, but that’s not always the case.
a “dime” is a 10-cent coin.
a “dozen” means a quantity of 12. (a dozen eggs).
a dime a dozen means you can get 12 for 10 cents.
by Asad (Karachi,Pakistan)
i think it means plentiful or commonplace as to be of little esteem or slight value.
by Begum