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, 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

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Etymology

Origin of pigeonhole

First recorded in 1570–80; pigeon ¹ + hole

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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

He said: "What is wonderful is I feel like people can often pigeonhole queer cinema, and those two films show the spectrum and diversity that can be found."

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Though it may pain me to say, as a frequent critic of Levinson’s work, it’s clear that even he knew that it would be all too easy for executives to pigeonhole Demie.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 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

“She’s not necessarily easy to pigeonhole as being a progressive or centrist or moderate,” said Brian Brokaw, a former Harris advisor who ran a group supporting Harris in the primary.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2024

This bit of common sense, sometimes termed the pigeonhole or Dirichlet drawer principle, can occasionally be used to derive claims that are not so obvious.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

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

Everything that’s wrong with this place is the way we put everyone in pigeonholes.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 8, 2020

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

“Trans and queer people are often pigeonholed to this idea of being really alternative in sound,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

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

Jeff Li felt pigeonholed in his job in the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

Jazz celebrity though he was, Duke Ellington disliked his music being pigeonholed as ‘jazz’; he preferred simply to call it ‘American music’, and he experimented in many forms and genres.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

It’s so intentionally inclusive and ambitious that it turns right back around to feel limiting, pigeonholing Maddie into a place where she feels in constant competition with her colleagues and herself.

From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026

Raphael Benza, head of Johannesburg-based record label Vth Season, says the very name Best African Performance goes against pigeonholing.

From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2025

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

Initially lumped in with a market-driven frenzy for young abstract painters, Auerbach resisted pigeonholing.

From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2023

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

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

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