as in crammed
to fit (people or things) into a tight space
the organizers of the county fair shoehorned the craft booths between the midway and the farm exhibits
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Recent Examples of shoehorned
Learning cannot be condensed into an accelerated course, shoehorned into a semester calendar, rushed and prodded along.
—
Peter Wayne Moe, Longreads, 26 Mar. 2026
Since then, these standalone console titles have mostly disappeared, been shoehorned into an Ultimate Team mode or moved to mobile.
—Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 14 Mar. 2026
That bill was watered down, however, and eventually got shoehorned into the one that passed Friday.
—Kristi Swartz, AJC.com, 7 Mar. 2026
Kevin isn’t any more random or inexplicably shoehorned into the story than Irene or Glem.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 20 Feb. 2026
In Short’s case, the flattening is particularly egregious, because the inchoate facts of her life are shoehorned into the obsessions of amateur sleuths who continue to get those facts wrong.
—Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
Williams is being shoehorned into a rotation that’s suddenly getting more crowded, providing coach Charles Lee with a good problem in the health department for once.
—Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 16 Jan. 2026
In typical Hollywood fashion, though, a spin on the concept just had to be shoehorned in here.
—Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 15 Jan. 2026
The special’s opening half-hour is a series of meaningful opening salvos like this, cannily shoehorned into catch-up anecdotes, each of them laying the groundwork for where Nanjiani ultimately wants the hour to land without tipping his hand in one direction or another.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Peter Wayne Moe, Longreads, 26 Mar. 2026
Since then, these standalone console titles have mostly disappeared, been shoehorned into an Ultimate Team mode or moved to mobile.
—Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 14 Mar. 2026
That bill was watered down, however, and eventually got shoehorned into the one that passed Friday.
—Kristi Swartz, AJC.com, 7 Mar. 2026
Kevin isn’t any more random or inexplicably shoehorned into the story than Irene or Glem.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 20 Feb. 2026
In Short’s case, the flattening is particularly egregious, because the inchoate facts of her life are shoehorned into the obsessions of amateur sleuths who continue to get those facts wrong.
—Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
Williams is being shoehorned into a rotation that’s suddenly getting more crowded, providing coach Charles Lee with a good problem in the health department for once.
—Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 16 Jan. 2026
In typical Hollywood fashion, though, a spin on the concept just had to be shoehorned in here.
—Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 15 Jan. 2026
The special’s opening half-hour is a series of meaningful opening salvos like this, cannily shoehorned into catch-up anecdotes, each of them laying the groundwork for where Nanjiani ultimately wants the hour to land without tipping his hand in one direction or another.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shoehorned
Verb
-
Former clients described Motta encouraging people to get surgeries, and others discussed one particularly shameless episode in which a large church van, crammed with prospective plaintiffs, intentionally collided with a truck.—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
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Kim Kardashian has crammed a lot into her career.—
Brent Lang,
Variety,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Misha’s mother’s body was hidden under some clothes in a front closet, stuffed inside a duffle bag.—
Leonard Greene,
New York Daily News,
14 Apr. 2026
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But there are a series of official bodies stuffed with Orbán loyalists who have taken power away from Hungary's parliament to make policy, Eyal pointed out, as well as a powerful constitutional court full of his appointees.—
Patrick Smith,
NBC news,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Sudhir Srivastava, vice president of the Noida Entrepreneurs Association, said manufacturers were being squeezed from multiple directions.—
Mayu Saini,
Footwear News,
17 Apr. 2026
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Bottom line Private credit’s share of overall financing in the US economy has grown, and when that growth slows or stops, small businesses with few other options get squeezed.—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
16 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shoehorned.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shoehorned. Accessed 18 Apr. 2026.
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