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

Ahmed: It wasn’t so much out of a kind of frustration or a desire to create work for myself or break out of a pigeonhole or anything like that.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026

“If we embrace narrow group-based identities too fiercely, we cling to the very cages in which others would seek to trap us. We pigeonhole ourselves.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026

"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

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

“At this point in my career, I have a reasonably good sense of the pigeonholes that I’ve either carved out for myself or been jammed into over the past couple of decades,” said Helms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 2, 2021

His musical tastes were broad, and he was already resisting pigeonholes.

From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2017

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

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

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026

Many actors are pigeonholed by a successful TV series.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

“You can get pigeonholed really quickly,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026

The American actor says she is "always" being pigeonholed into a certain role due to her age but she "resists at every turn".

From BBC ● Jan. 28, 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

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

From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2023

Aside from the expressive art, “the story is not so much a story as an affirmation, about identity and being open to change and not pigeonholing yourself.”

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 13, 2023

It seems he had a bit of a fixation there for a couple of decades, but beyond that he defies pigeonholing.

From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2023

But then once we got to Season 1, understandably, the idea of pigeonholing this character into that — I think it limits what you can do with her later on.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2023

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

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times