How to Use bookend in a Sentence

bookend

1 of 2 noun
  • He used an empty flowerpot as a bookend.
  • The turnovers served as bookends on the night.
    — Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 28 Oct. 2025
  • Those bookends tend to be the most important parts.
    — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Lomu and Fano go as college bookends in the first round.
    — Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 24 Apr. 2026
  • In a sense, the attempt on Rushdie’s life marked a bookend for Ali.
    — Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 23 Aug. 2022
  • Echoing that theme, the bookend rings can be used to complete your favorite ring stack at each end.
    — Jennifer Jenkins, Harper's BAZAAR, 6 Mar. 2023
  • Pumpkins are the bookends of autumn.
    — Bill Chappell, NPR, 8 Oct. 2025
  • That’s a great set of bookends, the first series and the 50th, and no one else can say that.
    — Peter Larsen, Oc Register, 18 Feb. 2026
  • These photos show the bookends of our lives together.
    — Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 12 Jan. 2026
  • But the bookends of Jack’s speech were all about Meg, who’d edited most of it.
    — Ashley Iasimone, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2019
  • Bevington is helped by having a pair of bookend tackles back with him this year.
    — Matt Goul, cleveland, 24 Aug. 2020
  • The bookend in the form of a bear reading a book had vacated the bookshelves along with the books.
    — Literary Hub, 13 June 2025
  • But the bookends adjusted their contracts to cut some hair under the cap.
    — Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Mar. 2024
  • This Season 2 feels like a real bookend to this life chapter.
    — Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 19 Dec. 2025
  • One of our favorite holidays is the bookend to this fabulous time of year.
    — Rebekah Lowin, Country Living, 17 Aug. 2022
  • The seventh of the seven games served as a sadly apt bookend to the Houston loss.
    — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Jan. 2024
  • Stoppard is not the first major playwright to pen a revealing bookend late in life.
    — Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 2 Oct. 2022
  • More likely to find a defensive end there than a long-term bookend at offensive line.
    — Cam Inman, Mercury News, 23 Apr. 2026
  • The bookend of the defense case was not Ridley-Thomas but his wife.
    — Matt Hamilton, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2023
  • The new bookend tight end, Eric Ebron, is coming off surgery on both ankles.
    — Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY, 20 Aug. 2020
  • Most of the time Garrett and Clowney are bookend defensive ends.
    — Jim Ingraham, Forbes, 28 Sep. 2021
  • Think of plants as natural bookends that define and soften your seating zones.
    — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Miami Herald, 21 Apr. 2026
  • The book sees Copeland’s career as not a bookend but another chapter.
    — Keyaira Boone, Essence, 27 Oct. 2021
  • If that turns out to be true, then Cleveland has a nice bookend for Myles Garrett.
    — Mark Inabinett | [email protected], al, 8 Apr. 2021
  • But his bookend on the Hurricanes’ defensive line could be.
    — Matt Barrows, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Adding another young gun on the wing to Dylan Guenther makes for a nice pair of bookends.
    — Kyle Woodlief, USA TODAY, 28 June 2023
  • And then the second bookend is as the people are immiserated, do these protests.
    — David Frum, The Atlantic, 17 June 2026
  • In the world of car collecting, people tend to like the bookends of cars, so the very first and very last are always desirable.
    — Detroit Free Press, 23 Feb. 2024
  • Her venture with Guide Beauty comes as the bookend to a year full of sharing her story with the world.
    — Hannah Dylan Pasternak, SELF, 10 June 2022
  • And late October through early April bookends the lull of low season.
    — Brad Japhe, Travel + Leisure, 18 Nov. 2023

bookend

2 of 2 verb
  • The first season had toe and shoulder woes bookend the year.
    — Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Jan. 2026
  • Who wants to bookend their trip with getting sick, after all?
    — Krista Simmons, Sunset Magazine, 2 Nov. 2023
  • Two blockbuster concert runs bookend a busy fall slate.
    — Chicago Tribune, 5 Sep. 2025
  • As in life, on-screen silence is as important as the words that bookend it.
    — Zoe Hewitt, Variety, 15 Dec. 2023
  • The game will also bookend their second back-to-back of the young season.
    — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 28 Oct. 2025
  • The song bookends the movie and is featured at both the beginning and end of the film.
    — Christopher Rudolph, PEOPLE, 25 June 2026
  • The navy beanie and white sneakers perfectly bookend the look.
    — Victoria Hernandez, USA TODAY, 12 Jan. 2023
  • Basel bookends the journey with easy hop-offs to Alpine towns, like Lucerne.
    — Jill Schildhouse, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
  • That means that full-lengths connected to films bookend the top 10 of the list.
    — Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
  • These cars bookend the supercar era.
    — James Morris, Forbes.com, 23 May 2026
  • These falling rocks — there are two that bookend the story — strike me as a serviceable metaphor.
    — Rachel Vorona Cote, New York Times, 28 Nov. 2023
  • On the first floor, four standard bedrooms bookend a vast, high-ceiling living room and an open kitchen.
    — Nicolas Stecher, Robb Report, 16 Feb. 2024
  • Decorate your bookshelf with this stylish acrylic bookend that doubles as a flower vase.
    — Samantha Jones, Country Living, 22 Mar. 2023
  • So bookend each live event with elements that make the learning more impactful.
    — William Arruda, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2021
  • Points are also given for other, shorter segments that bookend an episode.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 Apr. 2026
  • The two primers bookend the region to be amplified - see this pic for an explanation of why.
    — Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 7 Sep. 2010
  • Two of Leigh’s sculptures also bookend the main group show in the Arsenale.
    — Washington Post, 22 Apr. 2022
  • Barnard bookends the film with club scenes, powered by euphoric bonhomie and perhaps a few Class As.
    — Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 20 May 2026
  • Like other cribs on our list, this one can convert to a daybed, and the front and back pieces can bookend a full-size bed frame, sold separately.
    — Rachel Rothman and Jessica Hartshorn, Good Housekeeping, 24 Feb. 2023
  • Shane Wright tallied twice to bookend Seattle’s scoring.
    — Andrew Knoll, Daily News, 5 Feb. 2026
  • The birth and death of an alien world This year, astronomers observed two cosmic moments that bookend the life of a planet.
    — Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 26 Dec. 2025
  • Scenes of youthful exuberance and folly bookend with a final shot of Manuel singing new lyrics for their song.
    — Jd Linville, Variety, 21 Jan. 2022
  • Cairo hotel stays bookend the cruise, with three nights pre-cruise and one night post-cruise spent in five-star hotels that place guests at the heart of the city’s history.
    — Condé Nast Traveler, 25 June 2026
  • Teams play every day, and there’s no big event with a Bad Bunny performance to bookend the season.
    — Mia Sato, The Verge, 1 Mar. 2026
  • Weather forecast to bookend the holiday in some parts of the country could cause flight disruptions and delays.
    — Chandelis Duster, NPR, 22 Nov. 2025
  • Remaining on the subject of Chris’ past, Idris Elba has a cameo/small role that bookends the film.
    — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 June 2023
  • Social apnea – as the name suggests – is the sleep that bookends days with more social activities and sleep schedules are out of whack.
    — New Atlas, 13 Aug. 2025
  • The images, taken almost two decades apart, roughly bookend Avedon's time at Bazaar.
    — Stephen Mooallem, Harper's BAZAAR, 4 May 2023
  • Arhaus delivers a low-profile and elegant take on the traditional sleigh bed with a curved headboard and footboard that bookend the frame.
    — Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 5 Feb. 2026
  • This year, just a few hundred fans stood at the finish line—an eerily quiet and spare crowd compared to the typical thousands that arrive to bookend the race’s start and end.
    — Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Apr. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bookend.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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