buttonhole
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to sew with a buttonhole stitch.
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to make buttonholes in.
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to hold by the buttonhole or otherwise abruptly detain (someone) in conversation.
The reporter tried to buttonhole the mayor for a statement on the bus strike.
noun
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a slit in a garment, etc, through which a button is passed to fasten two surfaces together
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US name: boutonniere. a flower or small bunch of flowers worn pinned to the lapel or in the buttonhole, esp at weddings, formal dances, etc
verb
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to detain (a person) in conversation
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to make buttonholes in
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to sew with buttonhole stitch
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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buttonholesimple
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buttonholessimple
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have buttonholedperfect
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has buttonholedperfect
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am buttonholingprogressive
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are buttonholingprogressive
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is buttonholingprogressive
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have been buttonholingperfect progressive
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has been buttonholingperfect progressive
Past
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buttonholedsimple
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had buttonholedperfect
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was buttonholingprogressive
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were buttonholingprogressive
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had been buttonholingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of buttonhole
Vocabulary lists containing buttonhole
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:
"I would say that the buttonhole needling technique destroyed her life, certainly destroyed her health," says Dr Macanovic.
From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2024
They relied on Griffin, who utilized her thick Rolodexes and neighborhood connections to buttonhole politicians, community members and others to fight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
They have lunches, meet at conferences, buttonhole departmental women visitors, set up private Facebook pages and Slack channels, and are all over Twitter.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 25, 2022
This opens the floor to everyone who has ideas — not just those with the loudest voices or the chutzpah to buttonhole leaders in passing to pitch their ideas.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 24, 2022
Twirling it between his fingers for a moment, he tucked it into the top buttonhole of his shirt.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
His red coat with black trim, red waistcoat with hand-stitched buttonholes and gold regimental buttons, and white breeches “represent the only complete uniform of the Revolutionary war.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
The golf stories are narrated by the “oldest member” of an upper-class golf club who buttonholes unwary younger members to regale them with his memories of golfers he has known.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2025
Even in interviews, Arnhold educates, buttonholes, lobbies for her cause — graciously but inexorably.
From New York Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
David Whelan said his brother must work at least eight hours a day, six days a week, on menial tasks like making buttonholes, which has caused him repetitive strain injury.
From Reuters ● Nov. 3, 2022
We made sweat lodges out of broken branches dug back into the earth, covered over with our shirts tied together at the buttonholes.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
Tegmark buttonholed Elon Musk at a 2014 MIT conference on space, after one of his students asked a question that prompted the billionaire’s now-famous quip that, with AI, “we are summoning the demon.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 4, 2026
At a moment of vulnerability, Harper is buttonholed by an old classmate named Sue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2025
At the lighting ceremony, a non-Jewish man buttonholed the rabbi to thank him for procuring badly needed heart medicine for him during a spate of intense bombardment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2023
Another essay has him getting buttonholed by a righteous white man at a party who insists that Walker ought to feel oppressed.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2020
On this occasion he buttonholed me to talk about the guided Everest expedition he was planning: I should come along, he cajoled, and write an article about the climb for Outside.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
But Mrs Kelsey's medical records, which BBC News has seen, show she suffered a great deal after she started buttonholing.
From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2024
A young William Boeing showed up day after day, buttonholing every pilot he could for a skyride.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2023
But even after Mr. Biden and members of his cabinet worked the phones and Ms. Pelosi and her team spent much of Thursday buttonholing lawmakers on the House floor, the votes proved elusive.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2021
Netanyahu continued the efforts until the last moment, according to reports from the chamber, buttonholing individual members overnight as the voting continued on more than 700 individual provisions.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2021
A judge of the State courts was also present, with other prominent citizens, buttonholing the members of the Legislature, offering them shares, sub-shares, and half sub-shares to secure their votes.
From Stories Of Georgia by Harris, Joel Chandler
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.
