a dime a dozen
- 1So common and easy to come by as to be practically worthless.
Like pennies scattered across a parking lot: so plentiful that no one bothers to pick them up.
Talented guitarists are a dime a dozen, but ones who can write a hit are rare.
In this part of town, trendy coffee shops are a dime a dozen.
Similarcommonplace, plentiful, abundant, common
Oppositerare, scarce, uncommon
Note
The arithmetic is the joke: a dime is ten cents, so twelve of anything for one coin makes each piece nearly free. The price is imagined rather than remembered, which is why the phrase still works when nothing costs that little. It belongs to American and Australian English, and it usually follows be with a plural subject: skilled workers, coffee shops and good ideas are a dime a dozen.
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with a dime a dozen, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.
Origin
The phrase pictures something so cheap and plentiful that a whole dozen could be bought for a single dime (10¢).