fence in

Idioms

Also, hem in. Restrict or confine someone, as in He wanted to take on more assignments but was fenced in by his contract, or Their father was old-fashioned and the children were hemmed in by his rules. Both expressions transfer a literal form of enclosure to a figurative one. The first gained currency from a popular song in the style of a cowboy folk song by Cole Porter, “Don't Fence Me In” (1944), in which the cowboy celebrates open land and starry skies. The variant is much older, dating from the late 1500s.

Example Sentences

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fence in

If he isn't, some on the party's soft left will think that Burnham has refused the first fence in the race to change Britain.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

Images on social media showed a person scaling the fence in a costume that included a smiley face head with sunglasses, prompting the monkeys to scatter.

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

In December 2018, protesters tore down a fence in the Tuileries gardens next to the Louvre.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2025

Not just with the erection of the fence in Hungary but, among several examples, the deployment of riot police in Croatia, and migrants being detained in Slovenia.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2025

There was a crowd of soldiers along the fence in the infield.

From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

fence in

Example Sentences

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