pigeonhole

American  

[pij-uhn-hohl] / ˈpɪdʒ ənˌhoʊl /

noun

1. one of a series of small, open compartments, as in a desk, cabinet, or the like, used for filing or sorting papers, letters, etc.

2. a hole or recess, or one of a series of recesses, for pigeons to nest in.

3. Also called white hole.  Also called pigeon hole,.  Printing. white space created by setting words or lines too far apart.

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verb (used with object)

• pigeonholes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pigeonholed,
  past participle,  past
• pigeonholing
  present participle

1. to assign to a definite place or to definite places in some orderly system.

   to pigeonhole new ideas.

   Synonyms:

   catalog, categorize

2. to lay aside for use or reference at some later, indefinite time.

   We must pigeonhole this excellent plan until the time is ripe.

   Synonyms:

   file

3. to put aside for the present, especially with the intention of ignoring or forgetting, often indefinitely.

   to pigeonhole an unwanted invitation.

   Synonyms:

   shelve, postpone

4. to place in or as if in a pigeonhole or pigeonholes.

   to pigeonhole papers.

5. to fit or provide with pigeonholes.

   The desk must be pigeonholed for all my papers.

pigeonhole British  

/ ˈpɪdʒɪnˌhəʊl /

noun

1. a small compartment for papers, letters, etc, as in a bureau

2. a hole or recess in a dovecote for pigeons to nest in

3. informal a category or classification

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verb

1. to put aside or defer

2. to classify or categorize, esp in a rigid manner

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• pigeonholing
  present
• pigeonholed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pigeonhole
  simple
• pigeonholes
  simple
• have pigeonholed
  perfect
• has pigeonholed
  perfect
• am pigeonholing
  progressive
• are pigeonholing
  progressive
• is pigeonholing
  progressive
• have been pigeonholing
  perfect progressive
• has been pigeonholing
  perfect progressive

Past

• pigeonholed
  simple
• had pigeonholed
  perfect
• was pigeonholing
  progressive
• were pigeonholing
  progressive
• had been pigeonholing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pigeonhole
  simple
• will have pigeonholed
  perfect
• will be pigeonholing
  progressive
• will have been pigeonholing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of pigeonhole

First recorded in 1570–80; pigeon ¹ + hole

Explanation

A pigeonhole is a small nesting area for a pigeon, or a similarly cozy compartment or alcove. If you feel like you're stuck in a restrictive category — only thought of as someone's sister, for example — that's another kind of pigeonhole. A cubbyhole in your desk is one kind of pigeonhole, and the little box where a domesticated pigeon sleeps is another. These original meanings date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By the 1870s, pigeonhole had also come to mean "an overly simplistic or restrictive category," and also "to assign someone to a rigid category." So when you assume that a circus clown couldn't also be a brilliant mathematician, you have pigeonholed him.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pigeonhole pigeonholes pigeonholed pigeonholing

But she also defied the industry tendency to pigeonhole performers based on the breakout success of characters like Claire Bennet.

From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026

In nonfiction, authors consider how we define wild places, how we pigeonhole the aging, and how languages live or die.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

To see how we’ve evolved from the era of pigeonhole desks to today’s Zoom calls, it’s worth taking a close look at 10 landmark inventions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 15, 2025

"Aerospace has something for people with different backgrounds, different qualifications, there's so much variety. So don't pigeonhole yourself, there really is something for everyone here."

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2025

We waited for Mr. Lias at the drug store because Cold Sassy’s post office was in there, a big pigeonhole desk over where the telephone central switchboard used to be.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

Somewhere along the way if you're a young actor coming up, you can bet there are pigeonholes for everyone.

From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2024

His fundamental theme is how social media pigeonholes us and mines our data, a condescending phenomenon that treats us less like human beings than abstractions made up of marketable information.

From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2022

From left: Withings ScanWatch, Fossil Hybrid HR, Skagen Jorn, Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid What bothers me about the Stella design is how it somewhat pigeonholes your style.

From The Verge ● Jul. 16, 2022

Schumann created a nuanced new genre unfit for generic pigeonholes that includes aspects of opera, oratorio, chamber music and song.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2018

She put all of her papers neatly in the pigeonholes of her desk, and when Joe brought the tea tray she had him put it beside her bed.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

Steinem said that she was pigeonholed because of the story.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

But one gets the sense that Thatcher’s worried about being pigeonholed.

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026

British coach Fran Jones - a namesake of the British number four - found herself "pigeonholed" coaching under-14s without being aware of opportunities that existed beyond that level.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

I’m not a young guy but I don’t want to get pigeonholed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

Second, developmental sequences are not invariant, so examples pigeonholed under the same stage are inevitably heterogeneous.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Points, too, for the solid casting, from the leads’ tricky pivoting from openness to caginess, to the criminally underseen Wasikowska, who navigates maternal complexities of worry and compassion that confound easy pigeonholing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026

He no longer felt like the “Baby” singer everyone was so hellbent on pigeonholing him as.

From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2024

I was intrigued then when the pollster YouGuv, in combination with The Economist magazine, decided to take pigeonholing to a whole different level.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024

Where artists used to hate being pigeonholed, now they do the pigeonholing themselves.

From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2023

It offers no nifty formulas for pigeonholing people or decoding folkways and manners.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times