buttonhole
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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buttonholes,
present (3rd person singular)
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buttonholed,
past participle, past
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buttonholing
present participle
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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:
Ashley Roper, 37, from Heckmondwike, suffered what is known as a buttonhole tear of her perineum while giving birth at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield in 2017.
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 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
“Keith defined the industry he covered,” wrote Mr. Murdoch, whom Mr. Kelly in fact was known to buttonhole boldly in elevators and shake down for information like anyone else.
From New York Times ● Jul. 31, 2021
“I’ll do my best to gratify you, Sir,” was Laurie’s unusually dutiful reply, as he carefully unpinned the posy Jo had put in his buttonhole.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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
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
This he tailored into surprisingly well-fitting shirts and pants, complete with pockets, belt loops, and properly sewn buttonholes.
From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2022
I was thanking my stars that I’d learned to make nice buttonholes, when the parlor door opened and shut, and someone began to hum, Kennst Du Das Land, like a big bumblebee.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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 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
Resident Caroline Aguirre, a retired parole agent, said she buttonholed one courier trying to deliver a bag marked with the name James on it and explained the order wasn’t for her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2023
As the meeting broke up and council members prepared to meet with their lawyer, BLM 757 leader Japharii Jones, who had carried his black-and-white flag into the meeting, buttonholed Willis.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 15, 2021
Only a few weeks previously, Weaver confided, Fosdick had been buttonholed at a benefit dinner by Dave Hennen Morris, a wealthy former ambassador to Belgium and a board member of the Research Corporation.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
When Dr Macanovic examined the records of 15 patients using the buttonholing technique at the QA, she found infection rates four times higher than they experienced using the standard technique.
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
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
It’s hard to immerse yourself in a fictional, historical world that won’t stop buttonholing you to point out its similarities to the real, contemporary one.
From Slate ● Mar. 15, 2020
"You von't forget me," whispered Pinchas, buttonholing the editor at the first opportunity, and placing his forefinger insinuatingly alongside his nose.
From Children of the Ghetto A Study of a Peculiar People by Israel Zangwill
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.
