shoe-leather
adjective
shoe-leath·er
ˈshü-ˌle-t͟hər 
: involving or using basic, direct, or old-fashioned methods
shoe-leather journalism
Examples of shoe-leather in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Premiering Wednesday on Apple TV+, the eight-episode series from creator Paul Rutman (Indian Summers) weaves slippery social issues into its suspenseful tale of a decade old murder, institutional power dynamics, and good old-fashioned shoe-leather police work.
—
Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 8 Jan. 2024
But Jenna Ortega’s movie-star confidence in the title role more than eclipses Martin Freeman’s shoe-leather character acting, a perhaps inevitable outcome given the age and gender politics exercised in its story — but not necessarily one that gets at something truly interesting.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 24 Jan. 2024
The one piece of advice she’s found comforting is that some owners are able to recover their dogs, either through a reward or shoe-leather canvassing.
—William Wan, Washington Post, 27 Nov. 2023
Others pursued old-school, shoe-leather journalism, forming teams to visit refugee camps and document allegations of war crimes, and collected evidence by transferring videos via Bluetooth or USB drives.
—Gerry Shih, Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2023
The series has its cake and eats it, too, blending high-stakes, shoe-leather reporting with thriller sizzle.
—Chris Vognar, Rolling Stone, 21 Aug. 2023
Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 8 Jan. 2024
But Jenna Ortega’s movie-star confidence in the title role more than eclipses Martin Freeman’s shoe-leather character acting, a perhaps inevitable outcome given the age and gender politics exercised in its story — but not necessarily one that gets at something truly interesting.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 24 Jan. 2024
The one piece of advice she’s found comforting is that some owners are able to recover their dogs, either through a reward or shoe-leather canvassing.
—William Wan, Washington Post, 27 Nov. 2023
Others pursued old-school, shoe-leather journalism, forming teams to visit refugee camps and document allegations of war crimes, and collected evidence by transferring videos via Bluetooth or USB drives.
—Gerry Shih, Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2023
The series has its cake and eats it, too, blending high-stakes, shoe-leather reporting with thriller sizzle.
—Chris Vognar, Rolling Stone, 21 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shoe-leather.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1951, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near shoe-leather
Cite this Entry
“Shoe-leather.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shoe-leather. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share