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Synonyms

fence in

Idioms  

  1. 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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In a Feb. 14 letter to the crew’s families after the second extension was announced, he wrote that he had expected to be home within weeks, fixing the fence in his backyard.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 21, 2026

Chesterton’s parable: If you stumble on a fence in the middle of the road, don’t take it down until you know why it’s there.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

A tree also fell on a fence in Santa Rosa.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 14, 2025

The three climbed out of a bathroom window, scaled a fence in the backyard and banged on the window of a neighbor who called 911.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 8, 2025

I'd have to inch along the fence in a sitting position, till I was right at Mr. Blake's living room window.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

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.