Definition of shoehorn
: a curved piece (as of horn, wood, or metal) used in putting on a shoe
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Recent Examples of shoehorn from the Web
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The Polynesian-themed bash shoehorns tropical drinks, Tiki art, surf rock, go-go dancers and an assorted of things for sale into one flea market.
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An image or phrase finds you, pleases you with its wit or vividness, shoehorns open your evolving vision of the fictive world, and before that change gets fully processed, here comes another.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'shoehorn.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of shoehorn
1589
shoehorn
Definition of shoehorn
transitive verb
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
Examples of shoehorn in a Sentence
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 of shoehorn from the Web
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Not since 2011 had organizers shoehorned three such climbs into the same stage.
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Shoehorned between Spain and France, the tiny, landlocked principality of Andorra is draped over 180 square miles of the Pyrenees mountains.
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But critics of the movement for more inclusive curricula say the solution isn’t shoehorning women into history materials for the sake of balance.
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Kingdom Hearts is certainly popular enough to generate scads of solo buzz, once more raising the question of whether these games benefit or suffer from being shoehorned into multi-hour conferences, loaded with content like informational firehoses.
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The tech industry has been fueled for decades by the ability of chipmakers to shoehorn ever smaller, faster transistors into the chips that power laptops, servers, and mobile devices.
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Katey Sagal’s on-the-prowl divorcee now gets a number, Fever (one of a handful of old/new songs unnecessarily shoehorned into the score).
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What’s coming is a lot of products that embrace the story of Avatar, and not shoehorning in the famous mouse anywhere, at least not yet.
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There’s no happy answer to this, but by choosing not to shoehorn footage of Fisher into the next film, Lucasfilm has probably made the right call.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'shoehorn.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of shoehorn
1859
SHOEHORN Defined for English Language Learners
shoehorn
playDefinition of shoehorn for English Language Learners
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: a curved device that you use to slide the heel of your foot into a shoe
shoehorn
Definition of shoehorn for English Language Learners
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: to force (something or someone) into a small space, a short period of time, etc.
SHOEHORN Defined for Kids
shoehorn
playDefinition of shoehorn for Students
: a curved piece (as of metal) to help in sliding the heel of the foot into a shoe
Learn More about shoehorn
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