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
Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 Feb. 2026
And in ordinary academic buildings and offices tucked up in the corners of the athletic department, university registrars and academic advisors were setting their hair on fire, trying to figure out how to approve transcripts and shoehorn new students into classes that were already full.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 9 Jan. 2026
Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 25 Mar. 2026
Since then, these standalone console titles have mostly disappeared, been shoehorned into an Ultimate Team mode or moved to mobile.
—Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 14 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for shoehorn
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Noun
Penhaligon’s bath products, Riojas in the minibar and shoehorns by the safe hint at the hotel’s general leaning towards a frictionless, global-standard sort of five-star.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 Feb. 2026
And in ordinary academic buildings and offices tucked up in the corners of the athletic department, university registrars and academic advisors were setting their hair on fire, trying to figure out how to approve transcripts and shoehorn new students into classes that were already full.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 9 Jan. 2026
Verb
For a company that once famously swore off commercials, Netflix sure shoehorns in as much self-advertising as possible.
—Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 25 Mar. 2026
Since then, these standalone console titles have mostly disappeared, been shoehorned into an Ultimate Team mode or moved to mobile.
—Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 14 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for shoehorn
Cite this Entry
“Shoehorn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shoehorn. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
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