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buttonholed

  • past participle
    of buttonhole.
    buttonhole
    noun
    the hole, slit, or loop through which a button is passed and by which it is secured.
  • past tense form
    of buttonhole.
    buttonhole
    noun
    the hole, slit, or loop through which a button is passed and by which it is secured.

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:

Clare buttonholed Archer and, according to his own account, the would-be candidate burst into tears and asked that the story be quashed.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

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

These are some of the issues the kids wrote on posters at the forum and buttonholed the candidates on at the reception.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 13, 2022

He buttonholed a priest who was coming back with one of the returning streams of pilgrims.

From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway