Select the most appropriate meaning of the given idiom. A dime a dozen

Correct — A. A dime is the American ten-cent coin, so something you can buy twelve of for one dime is being priced at almost nothing.

The idiom rates how easy the thing is to find, not what it costs: so plentiful that it carries no special worth.

Option (a), common and not special, is that meaning stated plainly.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Very wealthy — This reads the money in the idiom as the buyer's. A dime a dozen describes the goods, not the person, and what it says about them is that they are cheap.
• (c)
  Variety of amenities — This takes dozen to mean assorted things. The idiom counts sameness, not range — twelve of the identical cheap item, with no suggestion of facilities or choice.
• (d)
  A fair trade — A fair trade calls an exchange reasonable. The idiom is dismissive, not neutral: it says the thing is not worth much, and passes no judgement on whether a price is just.

An idiom does not mean the sum of its words, and the fastest way into an unfamiliar one is the picture it draws. Here the picture is a market stall: twelve of something for ten cents.

Nothing that plentiful is prized, so the phrase means ordinary, easily found, of no special value.

It is used dismissively — of talents, apps, opinions or people that are easy to come by.

Key facts

• A dime is the United States ten-cent coin, one tenth of a dollar.
• A dime a dozen means so plentiful that it has no special value.
• The phrase is dismissive — it downgrades whatever it describes.

Common traps

• Treating the coin in the idiom as a statement about somebody's wealth.
• Reading dozen as a count of different kinds rather than of identical items.
• Picking the option that comments on price instead of on worth.

No directly related past PYQ was found.