shoehorned; shoehorning; shoehorns
1
: to force to be included or admitted
shoehorned irrelevant arguments into his essay
2
: to force or compress into an insufficient space or period of time : squeeze
shoehorn the past, present, and future into about 500 pages—
Otis Port
Otis PortExamples of shoehorn in a Sentence
Verb
A parking garage has been shoehorned between the buildings.
She's trying to shoehorn a year's worth of classes into a single semester.
I don't know how they managed to shoehorn everyone into that little room.
Recent Examples on the Web
Nora Colomer
May Earn A Commission If You Buy Through Our Referral Links. This Content Was Created By A Team That Works Independently From The Fox Newsroom., FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Stephanie doesn’t use her wealth like a shoehorn, trying to fit herself into a situation like Sutton Stracke does.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2025
Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
They were adapted from existing internal combustion engine platforms, with the electric powertrains shoehorned inside.
—Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shoehorn
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Noun
Get dressed easier and reduce the need to bend with the help of this adjustable shoehorn, which doubles as a dressing stick and sock remover.
—Nora Colomer
May Earn A Commission If You Buy Through Our Referral Links. This Content Was Created By A Team That Works Independently From The Fox Newsroom., FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Stephanie doesn’t use her wealth like a shoehorn, trying to fit herself into a situation like Sutton Stracke does.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2025
Verb
But by his fourth and final tournament, Euro 2024, the manager had fallen back into the old ways, trying to shoehorn Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham into the same team, often with Trent Alexander-Arnold shunted into midfield.
—Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
They were adapted from existing internal combustion engine platforms, with the electric powertrains shoehorned inside.
—Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shoehorn
Cite this Entry
“Shoehorn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shoehorn. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.
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