pencil in

verb

penciled in or pencilled in; penciling in or pencilling in; pencils in

: to put (someone or something that may be changed later) on a schedule, list, etc.

Would you like me to pencil you in for Thursday morning at 11?

—sometimes used figuratively

He was penciled in as the director's replacement.

Examples of pencil in in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Everything seemed perfect, the moving date was pencilled in for October, and then things went sideways. — Nicola Twilley, New Yorker, 27 Aug. 2026

Veeva also shared higher guidance than the Street penciled in for the current quarter and full year. — Alex Harring, CNBC, 26 Aug. 2026

Until the mid-1800s, pencils in America had no eraser, and the eraserless pencil is still standard in the rest of the world. — ABC News, 24 Aug. 2026

With a September 15 hearing in Reiner’s criminal case on the calendar, and an October 23 session in the struggle over the trust money penciled in, both sides in the trust matter are open to mediation, sources say. — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 17 Aug. 2026