pigeonhole
Americannoun
-
one of a series of small, open compartments, as in a desk, cabinet, or the like, used for filing or sorting papers, letters, etc.
-
a hole or recess, or one of a series of recesses, for pigeons to nest in.
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Also called white hole. Also called pigeon hole,. Printing. white space created by setting words or lines too far apart.
verb (used with object)
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pigeonholes,
present (3rd person singular)
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pigeonholed,
past participle, past
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pigeonholing
present participle
-
to assign to a definite place or to definite places in some orderly system.
to pigeonhole new ideas.
- Synonyms:
- catalog, categorize
-
to lay aside for use or reference at some later, indefinite time.
We must pigeonhole this excellent plan until the time is ripe.
- Synonyms:
- file
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to put aside for the present, especially with the intention of ignoring or forgetting, often indefinitely.
to pigeonhole an unwanted invitation.
-
to place in or as if in a pigeonhole or pigeonholes.
to pigeonhole papers.
-
to fit or provide with pigeonholes.
The desk must be pigeonholed for all my papers.
noun
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a small compartment for papers, letters, etc, as in a bureau
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a hole or recess in a dovecote for pigeons to nest in
-
informal a category or classification
verb
-
to put aside or defer
-
to classify or categorize, esp in a rigid manner
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pigeonholesimple
-
pigeonholessimple
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have pigeonholedperfect
-
has pigeonholedperfect
-
am pigeonholingprogressive
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are pigeonholingprogressive
-
is pigeonholingprogressive
-
have been pigeonholingperfect progressive
-
has been pigeonholingperfect progressive
Past
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pigeonholedsimple
-
had pigeonholedperfect
-
was pigeonholingprogressive
-
were pigeonholingprogressive
-
had been pigeonholingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pigeonhole
Explanation
A pigeonhole is a small nesting area for a pigeon, or a similarly cozy compartment or alcove. If you feel like you're stuck in a restrictive category — only thought of as someone's sister, for example — that's another kind of pigeonhole. A cubbyhole in your desk is one kind of pigeonhole, and the little box where a domesticated pigeon sleeps is another. These original meanings date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By the 1870s, pigeonhole had also come to mean "an overly simplistic or restrictive category," and also "to assign someone to a rigid category." So when you assume that a circus clown couldn't also be a brilliant mathematician, you have pigeonholed him.
Vocabulary lists containing pigeonhole
The Legislative Branch, Sections 4–6
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Accountable
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Hanged!
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In nonfiction, authors consider how we define wild places, how we pigeonhole the aging, and how languages live or die.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
To see how we’ve evolved from the era of pigeonhole desks to today’s Zoom calls, it’s worth taking a close look at 10 landmark inventions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 15, 2025
"Aerospace has something for people with different backgrounds, different qualifications, there's so much variety. So don't pigeonhole yourself, there really is something for everyone here."
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2025
I’ve noticed that messages from readers increasingly tend to pigeonhole, label or categorize.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
When the knock came on her door she put the envelopes in a pigeonhole of her desk.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Somewhere along the way if you're a young actor coming up, you can bet there are pigeonholes for everyone.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2024
His fundamental theme is how social media pigeonholes us and mines our data, a condescending phenomenon that treats us less like human beings than abstractions made up of marketable information.
From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2022
From left: Withings ScanWatch, Fossil Hybrid HR, Skagen Jorn, Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid What bothers me about the Stella design is how it somewhat pigeonholes your style.
From The Verge ● Jul. 16, 2022
Everything that’s wrong with this place is the way we put everyone in pigeonholes.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 8, 2020
Sitting at the desk, Booth removes a piece of paper and an envelope from the pigeonholes.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
But one gets the sense that Thatcher’s worried about being pigeonholed.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
I’m not a young guy but I don’t want to get pigeonholed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Many actors are pigeonholed by a successful TV series.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
“You can get pigeonholed really quickly,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
Second, developmental sequences are not invariant, so examples pigeonholed under the same stage are inevitably heterogeneous.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
A whistleblower has told Panorama there was a "pattern" of "pigeonholing" small businesses as "distressed" when they were "salvageable".
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2025
He no longer felt like the “Baby” singer everyone was so hellbent on pigeonholing him as.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2024
I was intrigued then when the pollster YouGuv, in combination with The Economist magazine, decided to take pigeonholing to a whole different level.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
While pigeonholing has no place in their work, finishing each other’s sentences is a big part of the process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2023
It offers no nifty formulas for pigeonholing people or decoding folkways and manners.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
