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 PortSynonyms
Examples 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 WebAmy Louise Bailey, Travel + Leisure, 13 Oct. 2023
Marino honored Peninsula must-haves, like enormous walk-in dressing rooms with full sartorial knickknacks—who doesn’t need a shoehorn?
—Linda Laban, Robb Report, 12 Sep. 2023
In memory care units, anything can become a weapon — toilet plungers, shoehorns, electric razors, TV remotes, metal trash grabbers and walking canes.
—Sahana Jayaraman, AZCentral.com, 27 June 2023
Steele needs to stay at right tackle, not switch positions in some effort to keep Tyler Smith at left tackle and shoehorn Tyron Smith in at right tackle.
—David Moore, Dallas News, 4 Apr. 2023
It was born in a shoehorn.
—Alexander Zaitchik, The New Republic, 1 June 2021
The other type of flat whisk looks like a balloon whisk that has had its tines flattened between the pages of a heavy book and slightly bent at the tip, like a shoehorn.
—Genevieve Yam, Bon Appétit, 28 Sep. 2022
Yet there’s something seductive about their ease: No laborious lace tying, certainly no shoehorn needed.
—Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 30 Aug. 2022
In his autobiography, her friend Hughes would recount a time when, mid-party, A’Lelia started to cry about an ex-husband, retreating to her room and cradling a gold shoehorn her former lover had left her with.
—Mayukh Sen, Bon Appétit, 14 Oct. 2021
Sean Evans, Robb Report, 5 Apr. 2024
The disastrous honeymoon period with Harden that began Nov. 6, and endured through five consecutive losses, after the former league MVP joined a lineup that attempted to shoehorn all four of the roster’s future Hall of Famers into its starters.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 8 Dec. 2023
Laurence is shamefully wasted in her return to the role that made her name as she's mostly shoehorned into the last 20 minutes of the movie, along with Pinhead himself.
—Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023
Students would be better off if teachers stuck to their own subject expertise, instead of attempting to shoehorn in weighty issues, Christensen argued.
—Hannah Poukish, The Mercury News, 7 Feb. 2024
The stringent cleanse and rejuvenation regime, once the sole preserve of princes, is often shoehorned into a five-day flurry.
—Jane Alexander, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Feb. 2024
Simply shoehorning the concept of everything that is going to be done technically, from a business priority standpoint, with secure by design into it, is what the decision-making process should be.
—Megan Poinski, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024
Part of that has to do with the challenge of introducing not just Cassie but the youthful trio in her care, whose personalities and interactions almost by necessity must be shoehorned into narrow Disney Channel-style cliches.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 13 Feb. 2024
Often, the Bard’s plays are shoehorned into a new time and place with little regard for coherent dramaturgy.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 2 Feb. 2024
Noun
Other useful features include an interior mesh pocket, which can be used for storing accessories (socks, heel pads, shoehorns, etc.) and a top handle for easy transportation.
—Amy Louise Bailey, Travel + Leisure, 13 Oct. 2023
Marino honored Peninsula must-haves, like enormous walk-in dressing rooms with full sartorial knickknacks—who doesn’t need a shoehorn?
—Linda Laban, Robb Report, 12 Sep. 2023
In memory care units, anything can become a weapon — toilet plungers, shoehorns, electric razors, TV remotes, metal trash grabbers and walking canes.
—Sahana Jayaraman, AZCentral.com, 27 June 2023
Steele needs to stay at right tackle, not switch positions in some effort to keep Tyler Smith at left tackle and shoehorn Tyron Smith in at right tackle.
—David Moore, Dallas News, 4 Apr. 2023
It was born in a shoehorn.
—Alexander Zaitchik, The New Republic, 1 June 2021
The other type of flat whisk looks like a balloon whisk that has had its tines flattened between the pages of a heavy book and slightly bent at the tip, like a shoehorn.
—Genevieve Yam, Bon Appétit, 28 Sep. 2022
Yet there’s something seductive about their ease: No laborious lace tying, certainly no shoehorn needed.
—Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 30 Aug. 2022
In his autobiography, her friend Hughes would recount a time when, mid-party, A’Lelia started to cry about an ex-husband, retreating to her room and cradling a gold shoehorn her former lover had left her with.
—Mayukh Sen, Bon Appétit, 14 Oct. 2021
Verb
That wasn’t sufficient for Brabus, who promptly shoehorned another 300 ponies in after increasing the displacement to 5.9-liters, then re-optimizing and upgrading many of the mechanicals.
—Sean Evans, Robb Report, 5 Apr. 2024
The disastrous honeymoon period with Harden that began Nov. 6, and endured through five consecutive losses, after the former league MVP joined a lineup that attempted to shoehorn all four of the roster’s future Hall of Famers into its starters.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 8 Dec. 2023
Laurence is shamefully wasted in her return to the role that made her name as she's mostly shoehorned into the last 20 minutes of the movie, along with Pinhead himself.
—Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023
Students would be better off if teachers stuck to their own subject expertise, instead of attempting to shoehorn in weighty issues, Christensen argued.
—Hannah Poukish, The Mercury News, 7 Feb. 2024
The stringent cleanse and rejuvenation regime, once the sole preserve of princes, is often shoehorned into a five-day flurry.
—Jane Alexander, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Feb. 2024
Simply shoehorning the concept of everything that is going to be done technically, from a business priority standpoint, with secure by design into it, is what the decision-making process should be.
—Megan Poinski, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024
Part of that has to do with the challenge of introducing not just Cassie but the youthful trio in her care, whose personalities and interactions almost by necessity must be shoehorned into narrow Disney Channel-style cliches.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 13 Feb. 2024
Often, the Bard’s plays are shoehorned into a new time and place with little regard for coherent dramaturgy.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 2 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shoehorn.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near shoehorn
Cite this Entry
“Shoehorn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shoehorn. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share