box in
phrasal verb
boxed in; boxing in; boxes in
: to surround (someone or something) and make movement difficult
The other bicyclists boxed her in and she couldn't move ahead.
—usually used as (be) boxed inWe were boxed in and couldn't get out of our parking space.
—sometimes used figurativelyI feel boxed in by all these rules.
Examples of box in in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The bed-in-a-box delivery was free, and the mattress arrived compressed and sealed in a box in about a week.
—
Kristi Kellogg, Architectural Digest, 10 Dec. 2025
Walshe can be seen with a large box in his cart.
—Penny Kmitt, CBS News, 10 Dec. 2025
Hall of Famer Julius Peppers is the only other player to check all three boxes in one game since 2000.
—Michael-Shawn Dugar, New York Times, 8 Dec. 2025
Doing the job of clearing out the attic should be thought of as a start-to-finish project, even if that means going through one box every week rather than 10 boxes in a day but with a major mess left on your hands (or in your garage).
—Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 7 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for box in
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Kristi Kellogg, Architectural Digest, 10 Dec. 2025
Walshe can be seen with a large box in his cart.
—Penny Kmitt, CBS News, 10 Dec. 2025
Hall of Famer Julius Peppers is the only other player to check all three boxes in one game since 2000.
—Michael-Shawn Dugar, New York Times, 8 Dec. 2025
Doing the job of clearing out the attic should be thought of as a start-to-finish project, even if that means going through one box every week rather than 10 boxes in a day but with a major mess left on your hands (or in your garage).
—Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 7 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for box in
Cite this Entry
“Box in.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/box%20in. Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.
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