there's a sucker born every minute
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Also seen as: a sucker is born every minute
Meaning · English
There will always be a great number of fools in the world who can be easily swindled.
Register: slang
Where it’s used:
Used
American English
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Common questions
What does “there's a sucker born every minute” mean?
There will always be a great number of fools in the world who can be easily swindled.
Is “there's a sucker born every minute” formal or informal?
there's a sucker born every minute is generally slang.