like sardines
idiom
: without enough room to move around
A large crowd of reporters was crammed/packed like sardines into a small room.
Examples of like sardines in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Chicken has more protein, and seafood like sardines, salmon and oysters are far more nutrient rich.
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Erik Vance, New York Times, 28 May 2024
The mob grabbed a ladder and shoved it through the tunnel, where still images from bodycam footage show police packed in like sardines.
—Ryan Oehrli, Charlotte Observer, 5 Feb. 2024
Cages crammed with hundreds of men who must sleep on their sides like sardines, as their cellmates wearily stand to make room, and shallow holes scraped from the earth with log and dirt ceilings so low that inmates cannot stand up.
—Katharine Houreld, Washington Post, 6 Jan. 2024
Packed like sardines on commercial flights, the passengers—some as young as 4, some as old as 16—all had one thing in common: They were unaccompanied.
—Smithsonianmag.com, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Aug. 2023
See all Example Sentences for like sardines 
Erik Vance, New York Times, 28 May 2024
The mob grabbed a ladder and shoved it through the tunnel, where still images from bodycam footage show police packed in like sardines.
—Ryan Oehrli, Charlotte Observer, 5 Feb. 2024
Cages crammed with hundreds of men who must sleep on their sides like sardines, as their cellmates wearily stand to make room, and shallow holes scraped from the earth with log and dirt ceilings so low that inmates cannot stand up.
—Katharine Houreld, Washington Post, 6 Jan. 2024
Packed like sardines on commercial flights, the passengers—some as young as 4, some as old as 16—all had one thing in common: They were unaccompanied.
—Smithsonianmag.com, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Aug. 2023
See all Example Sentences for like sardines
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'like sardines.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Like sardines.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/like%20sardines. Accessed 26 Jul. 2024.
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