Mom-and-pop

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of mom and pop (“a mom-and-pop operation”). alt-of, alternative
  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of mom and pop. alt-of

    "The new retail marketing companies, being highly profit-oriented, will be interested in the “cream” of the marketplace. The “cream” will not be the Mom-and-Pops and corner service stations of rural Chesterfield County."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Small and unsophisticated, typically because operated by a couple or a family. Canada, US, not-comparable

    "Mom-and-pop diners are disappearing from American streets and being replaced by bland corporate giants."

  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of mom-and-pop. alt-of, not-comparable

    "That’s how we discovered New England: back roads, Mom-and-Pop diners, historic markers and all."

Synonyms

All synonyms
ma-and-pa

Example

More examples

"Mom-and-pop bakeries were overwhelmed by supermarkets."

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.