shoehorned; shoehorning; shoehorns
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
Otis PortExamples of shoehorn in a Sentence
Verb
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 on the Web
Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 1 Dec. 2025
Get dressed easier and reduce the need to bend with the help of this adjustable shoehorn, which doubles as a dressing stick and sock remover.
—Nora Colomer
May Earn A Commission If You Buy Through Our Referral Links. This Content Was Created By A Team That Works Independently From The Fox Newsroom., FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 11 Dec. 2025
Swing tackle was a sore spot for years because the Giants tried to shoehorn third-round pick Josh Ezeudu into that role.
—Dan Duggan, New York Times, 3 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shoehorn
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Noun
This one is sure to be a treat for cinephiles, fans of whodunits and general audiences as filmmaker Rian Johnson amps up the intrigue, clever dialogue and shoehorns in a who’s who of Hollywood into the cast.
—Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 1 Dec. 2025
Get dressed easier and reduce the need to bend with the help of this adjustable shoehorn, which doubles as a dressing stick and sock remover.
—Nora Colomer
May Earn A Commission If You Buy Through Our Referral Links. This Content Was Created By A Team That Works Independently From The Fox Newsroom., FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Verb
While its desert setting, Morricone-adjacent score, and light themes of vengeance help justify the temptation to shoehorn it into a recognizable niche subgenre, its use of Western imagery is ultimately too loose to merit such a label.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 11 Dec. 2025
Swing tackle was a sore spot for years because the Giants tried to shoehorn third-round pick Josh Ezeudu into that role.
—Dan Duggan, New York Times, 3 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shoehorn
Cite this Entry
“Shoehorn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shoehorn. Accessed 21 Dec. 2025.
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