pigeonhole

noun pi·geon·hole \ ˈpi-jən-ˌhōl \

|Updated on: 31 Jul 2018

Examples: pigeonhole in a Sentence

Definition of pigeonhole

1 : a hole or small recess for pigeons to nest

2 : a small open compartment (as in a desk or cabinet) for keeping letters or documents

3 : a neat category which usually fails to reflect actual complexities

See pigeonhole defined for English-language learners

See pigeonhole defined for kids

Recent Examples of pigeonhole from the Web

Schumann created a nuanced new genre unfit for generic pigeonholes that includes aspects of opera, oratorio, chamber music and song.

— mark swed, latimes.com, "'Das Paradies': A giant globular tear as ticket to heaven," 4 June 2018
The more common punishment, however, is a pigeonhole.

— lee jenkins, SI.com, "Smooth Operator: Dwane Casey Is Still Ironing out Every Wrinkle He Can Find," 6 Mar. 2018
Taking their name from a childhood board game, Hüsker Dü evaded pigeonholes while outshining most of their punk brethren.

— jason heller, The Atlantic, "Remembering Hüsker Dü's Grant Hart," 9 Oct. 2017
Lynne grew increasingly frustrated with her Nashville pigeonhole, and was not shy about saying so in public.

— mary colurso | mcolurso@al.com, AL.com, "Alabama's Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer: 2 music roads paved with tragedy and triumph," 25 Aug. 2017
The blisters that made him funnel pitches into a pigeonhole for two months are finally clearing up.

— andrew baggarly, The Mercury News, "Johnny Cueto’s future with Giants is up in the air," 3 June 2017
An NCAA title on Monday might finally show how enormous this is, how strong Gonzaga had to be to escape its pigeonhole.

— mark whicker, Orange County Register, "Whicker: Gonzaga didn’t do this overnight," 30 Mar. 2017
As pigeonholes go, this is a rather roomy one to be in.

— the washington post, The Mercury News, "Who’s the uncanny JFK look-alike in ‘Jackie’?," 8 Mar. 2017
Similarly defying pigeonholes is Christopher Patton, who has optically transformed close-ups of his handwriting into a series of abstract images, made into a video loop.

— gary faigin, The Seattle Times, "Review: Diverse notions of drawing at the Whatcom Museum," 26 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pigeonhole.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of pigeonhole

1577

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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pigeonhole

verb

Definition of pigeonhole

transitive verb

1 a : to place in or as if in the pigeonhole of a desk

b : to lay aside : shelve

his reports continued to be pigeonholed and his advice not taken
—Walter Mills

2 : to assign to an often restrictive category : classify

—

pigeonholer

play \ˈpi-jən-ˌhō-lər\ noun

See pigeonhole defined for English-language learners

Examples of pigeonhole in a Sentence

She likes to perform different types of music because she doesn't want to be pigeonholed.

Recent Examples of pigeonhole from the Web

At the time, a social worker, foster parents and therapist pigeonholed the child, known then as Christina, as a troubled, pubescent girl who acted out for attention.

— samantha young, sacbee, "Should ‘gender-affirming health care’ be on the radar for California’s foster kids?," 2 July 2018
We're not pigeonholed into doing one thing or another.

— sam schube, GQ, "Kith's Ronnie Fieg Goes West," 16 Feb. 2018
Though originally pigeonholed in the genre, Hawthorne Heights set themselves apart with power pop and melodic hardcore influences.

— yoshina okamoto, Anchorage Daily News, "Post-hardcore band Hawthorne Heights heads to Anchorage," 29 June 2018
The show is about Ansari’s Dev looking for love in New York City, being a good son, being Indian-American, and trying to be an actor who isn’t pigeonholed into playing only heavy-accented cab drivers.

— matthew gilbert, BostonGlobe.com, "A guide to good Netflix vs. bad Netflix," 21 June 2018
The majority leader of the state Senate tried a last-ditch parliamentary gambit to pigeonhole expansion during a Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday.

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Why Virginia’s Medicaid expansion is a big deal," 31 May 2018
Both sides felt pigeonholed and stereotyped over the years.

— lisa rosen, latimes.com, "'Wild, Wild Country' documents bizarre tale of sex, drugs and religious fervor," 13 June 2018
The more effective Democrats are in pigeonholing Republicans as the party of angry white males, the better their prospects for control of Washington.

— WSJ, "There Are Reasons for Using Identity Politics," 3 June 2018
We are often pigeonholed as being hosts or servers in the industry.

— george mccalman, San Francisco Chronicle, "The Bay Area’s female bartenders speak on their industry," 25 May 2018

First Known Use of pigeonhole

1840

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

PIGEONHOLE Defined for English Language Learners

pigeonhole

noun

Definition of pigeonhole for English Language Learners

: a small open space in a desk, cabinet, or wall for keeping letters or papers
—used to say that someone or something is being unfairly thought of or described as belonging to a particular group, having only a particular skill, etc.