packed in like sardines

Idioms

Extremely crowded, as in I could barely breathe—we were packed in like sardines. This term, alluding to how tightly sardines are packed in cans, has been applied to human crowding since the late 1800s.

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:

packed in like sardines

Proper Fish is as popular as ever, with patrons packed in like sardines, and the staff assured me nothing has changed.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 8, 2023

"I can see us putting ourselves at further risk to soon if we are all packed in like sardines on that Tube again."

From BBC ● May 11, 2020

They are not comfortable: passengers are packed in like sardines.

From Economist ● Sep. 10, 2015

They stay when they have manageable class sizes; they leave when their kids are packed in like sardines.

From Time ● Oct. 27, 2014

We fought our way into the shelter, which wasn’t much more than a box of strangers packed in like sardines.

From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat

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