shoehorned

verb

past tense of shoehorn
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of shoehorned In typical Hollywood fashion, though, a spin on the concept just had to be shoehorned in here. — Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 15 Jan. 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 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 Learning cannot be condensed into an accelerated course, shoehorned into a semester calendar, rushed and prodded along. — Peter Wayne Moe, Longreads, 26 Mar. 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 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 Too often, modern technologies, like inter-device connectivity and artificial intelligence, are shoehorned into gadgets that would be more intuitive to use, affordable, accessible, and/or durable without them. — ArsTechnica, 18 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shoehorned
  1. crammed
  2. stuffed
  3. squeezed
Verb
  • Parents pushed strollers with infants, as men, women and children of all ages crammed onto the street.
    — Xiaoqian Lin, CNN Money, 6 July 2026
  • As rain pummeled the lawn in front of the Hatch Shell in Boston, thousands crammed underneath a nearby tunnel to stay dry.
    — Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 5 July 2026
Definition of crammed
Verb
  • The former four-classroom building, now comprised of 11 upscale suites, provides guests with a complimentary three-course breakfast each morning, which includes French toast stuffed with cream cheese.
    — Erika Ebsworth-Goold, Travel + Leisure, 2 July 2026
  • There were 68,827-plus souls — a fire hazard of a sellout — stuffed into the concrete oven temporarily known as Levi’s Stadium.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 2 July 2026
Definition of stuffed
Verb
  • Since their relationship became public in 2023, the couple has squeezed romance into tour schedules, football obligations and rare breaks from two of the most demanding careers in entertainment and sports.
    — Bryan West, USA Today, 7 July 2026
  • Minerals are not the only sector that have been squeezed as result of the fuel crunch stemming from the Iran war; regular consumers are seeing prices at the petrol pump and supermarkets rise as well.
    — Ruben Nyanguila, semafor.com, 6 July 2026
Definition of squeezed

Browse Nearby Words

shoehorn
shoehorned
shoehorning
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Cite this Entry

“Shoehorned.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shoehorned. Accessed 9 Jul. 2026.

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