How to Use shoestring in a Sentence

shoestring

1 of 2 noun
  • The fresh fries are shoestring style.
    — Carlos Rico, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Feb. 2026
  • These sliders go best with shoestring fries or chips.
    — Cameron Beall, Southern Living, 30 Apr. 2026
  • A lot of new late-night shows operate on even more of a shoestring.
    — Joy Press, Vanity Fair, 19 Feb. 2026
  • The shoestring-budget project took a few months, Leopold said.
    — Washington Post, 10 June 2021
  • If the science can be done on a shoestring, then perhaps that’s fine.
    — Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 3 Oct. 2023
  • His method is to push down the barb below the flesh, loop the shoestring around the hook and yank fast.
    — John Goodspeed, San Antonio Express-News, 24 June 2021
  • That said, even a shoestring budget can go far on social media.
    — Alison Coleman, Forbes, 26 May 2022
  • There are digital nomads, artists and chefs who came on a whim and a shoestring.
    — Christian Shepherd, Washington Post, 9 Feb. 2024
  • The beef is buttery and smoky, with a side of fresh-cut shoestring fries and a tangy mustard-mayo dip.
    — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 June 2023
  • And for some young adults, this shoestring budget isn’t enough to line their pockets — much less their panties.
    — Laken Brooks, Forbes, 26 Sep. 2021
  • Fitzpatrick lunged at Mixon’s feet and came up with the shoestring tackle.
    — Charlie Goldsmith, The Enquirer, 8 Sep. 2022
  • This year, many of the dead were small town reporters running their own outlets on a shoestring.
    — Christopher Sherman, Chicago Tribune, 17 Dec. 2022
  • This isn’t some random one-off, shoestring attempt fighting to be seen.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 31 Mar. 2026
  • Rex said his career was in the dumps before Baker called him for the shoestring film.
    — Lindsey Bahr, Anchorage Daily News, 7 Mar. 2022
  • Despite a shoestring budget, the two forged ahead, bolstered by a sense of purpose.
    — Carren Jao, Los Angeles Times, 22 Sep. 2023
  • Art-house moviemaking is a shoestring enterprise, so those kinds of costs are painful to endure.
    — Brent Lang, Variety, 20 Jan. 2022
  • The Golden Bull onion rings are, as mentioned, the shoestring kind.
    — Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2023
  • Started on a shoestring, the Corps became a hands-on problem-solver.
    — Tom Condon, Hartford Courant, 19 Dec. 2022
  • Life at the end of the shoestring is difficult, but there are advantages to exploit.
    — Andrei Petrik, Forbes, 7 June 2021
  • At one point, the opposing team’s quarterback had his shoestring caught on Aaron’s foot.
    — Tyler Tachman, The Indianapolis Star, 21 Sep. 2022
  • The Whataburger fries, on the other hand, were shoestring-thin, salty, crispy rods of perfection.
    — Brandon Mercer, Chron, 16 Sep. 2022
  • Produced on a shoestring budget, the film barely made a ripple on its initial release.
    — Katie Rife, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
  • The restaurant, which opened on something of a shoestring in late 2013, will be gutted.
    — Carol Deptolla, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11 Feb. 2020
  • The menu also features shoestring and loaded fries, fish tacos, a vegan salad and more.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Aug. 2021
  • Barbosa said the shoestring was likely placed on Gus’ neck as a puppy, but was never removed.
    — Madeline Farber, Fox News, 6 Sep. 2018
  • The burgers are built around the restaurant’s lamb kebabs topped with walnut adjika and served with shoestring fries.
    — oregonlive, 22 June 2020
  • Stan Valckx, the man in charge of cobbling together its shoestring team, has no vast network of scouts.
    — New York Times, 30 Apr. 2021
  • Working with a shoestring budget, Rasti didn’t have the time or resources to scout locations.
    — Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 19 Feb. 2024
  • Fallbrook’s film program had restarted on a shoestring budget — lacking lights, mics and state-of-the art equipment.
    — Diane Bell Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 May 2021
  • In the beginning [of my career], everything was on a shoestring budget.
    — Brittany Talarico, PEOPLE.com, 5 May 2022

shoestring

2 of 2 adjective
  • Kaline tried for a shoestring catch or a trap but failed both ways.
    — Gene Myers, Detroit Free Press, 10 Aug. 2019
  • Rhys Hoskins made a shoestring catch in left field and dragged his glove across the grass.
    — Matt Gelb, Philly.com, 27 Aug. 2017
  • Get stuffed on a shoestring budget with zero fast food guilt.
    — kansascity, 11 Dec. 2017
  • The flavor pairs Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream with shoestring fries and chocolate malt balls.
    — Karen Palmer, Bon Appetit, 18 Aug. 2017
  • Their centerfielder went for the shoestring catch (our runner was holding), and the ball managed to get past her.
    — SI.com, 28 May 2018
  • Marrero also helped his cause with a shoestring catch in the fifth to preserve Cueto’s scoreless outing.
    — Carl Steward, The Mercury News, 30 Mar. 2017
  • The house shoestring fries (small $4, large $6) are thin and crisp, dusted with curry powder and sprinkled amply with seaweed flakes.
    — Rachel Lebeaux, BostonGlobe.com, 31 July 2019
  • The Frita, as explained on the restaurant's website, is a burger made using chorizo, topped with a soft egg and served with shoestring fries.
    — Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, 28 June 2017
  • Arizona, by far the hottest team in the NL, is doing it on something of a shoestring budget, compared to other contenders.
    — Tom Haudricourt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9 Sep. 2017
  • My shoestring butternut squash spirals burned, whereas baby carrots, Dang says, are ideal.
    — NBC News, 6 Apr. 2018
  • Still, the shoestring operation brings in thousands of dollars in donations from supporters around the country.
    — Jeannette Hinkle, azcentral, 17 July 2019
  • Many clubs have attempted to replicate that success on a shoestring budget over the years, and granted Sean Dyche has taken it to arguably new heights this season, but this was no overnight success.
    — SI.com, 29 May 2018
  • Founder Stephanie Bowman, who relies on a small army of volunteers and a shoestring budget, said the donations that come over the next five weeks are what sustains organizations such as hers.
    — Kate Santich, orlandosentinel.com, 22 Nov. 2019
  • American lawyer Charlie, director of a shoestring nonprofit called the Refugee Relief Project, is less scrupulous.
    — Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times, 14 July 2017
  • Asia Chances are your backpacking days are long behind you, and the idea of sharing a hostel with a handful of shoestring-budget travelers probably sounds more like a nightmare than a once-in-a-lifetime rite of passage.
    — Ian Centrone, Esquire, 9 Jan. 2018
  • In Greater Cincinnati, a mighty, mostly volunteer needle-exchange effort on a shoestring budget started in 2014.
    — Terry Demio, USA TODAY, 15 Dec. 2019
  • The vessel at The Mart Dock in downtown Muskegon is now a dedicated memorial and community center, run on a shoestring budget with small tax-deductible donations.
    — Phoebe Wall Howard, Detroit Free Press, 24 May 2018
  • Unai Emery and the Arsenal hierarchy are on a mission solve the Gunners' defensive problems this summer but have to do so on a relative shoestring budget of just £45m.
    — SI.com, 27 June 2019
  • But as the British colony grew rich over the following decades, so did Cathay, transforming from a swashbuckling shoestring operation into a carrier of regional, then international, renown.
    — Raymond Zhong, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2019
  • Pittman-McGee, with a shoestring budget, also embodies a recent shift in social services in Milwaukee and a few other American communities.
    — John Schmid, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10 Mar. 2018
  • The camera-friendly, if hapless, Troncone also packs — at times overpacks — his portrait with Neapolitan color and background, forays into his shoestring existence over five-plus years of shooting, and lessons in the human condition.
    — latimes.com, 6 June 2019
  • Interviews with more than a dozen former employees and business partners provide a deeper look inside an organization that ballooned from a shoestring operation in the 1990s into a behemoth rivaling Wall Street’s largest firms.
    — Rachael Levy, WSJ, 8 Feb. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shoestring.' 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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