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• safety pin
  safety pin

  noun

  a pin bent back on itself to form a spring, with a guard to cover the point.
• safety-pin
  safety-pin

  verb (used with object)

  to secure or affix with a safety pin.

safety pin

¹ American  

noun

• safety pins
  plural

1. a pin bent back on itself to form a spring, with a guard to cover the point.

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safety-pin ² American  

[seyf-tee-pin] / ˈseɪf tiˌpɪn /

verb (used with object)

safety-pinned, safety-pinning

1. to secure or affix with a safety pin.

   to safety-pin a child's mittens to his coat sleeve.

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safety pin British  

noun

1. a spring wire clasp with a covering catch, made so as to shield the point when closed and to prevent accidental unfastening

2. another word for pin

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• safety pins
  plural

Etymology

Origin of safety pin¹

First recorded in 1855–60

Origin of safety-pin²

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

safety pin safety-pin safety-pinned

Adding insult to injury, to settle a debt, Hunt sold the 1849 patent rights for something that could have kept his legacy alive: the modern-day safety pin.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026

The costume department must have used every safety pin in town.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2025

The clothing items found with her remains included a dark-green sweater with a white safety pin attached to the front, dark-green trousers and a long-sleeved pink sweater.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 14, 2023

Many others used a much more effective tool - the ubiquitous safety pin.

From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2023

She saw the safety pin holding the hem of the dress up.

From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison

The dozens of outfits to come hewed to the same concept — women in baby-themed dresses and suits, adorned with safety-pin earrings or teething rings, with whimsical matching handbags and gloves.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 9, 2021

There were reduxes of the famous spring 1994 safety-pin dress collection, and the candy-colored PVC Mod dresses of fall 1994, here, shown with clunky sneakers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2018

And on Sunday night in New York, Ms. Versace was at it again, reincarnating the notorious safety-pin gown of 1994.

From New York Times ● Dec. 3, 2018

If I wanted to have skinny jeans like Test Icicles I couldn’t go to the shops – I had to turn a pair inside out and safety-pin them.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 7, 2016

Then she would safety-pin the card to the front of your shirt, and you’d have to wear it for the rest of the school day.

From "Frindle" by Andrew Clements

He leaned on old ski poles with a blue washcloth safety-pinned to the back of his ball cap.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2025

No Values hits right in your safety-pinned sweet spot.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2024

He kept all his money safety-pinned in a little pocket inside his jacket and was constantly accusing people of having opened it up and stealing his money.

From National Geographic ● Apr. 14, 2018

From Beau Brummell’s commitment to dandyism in 1790s Mayfair to the safety-pinned punks stalking Camden in the 1970s, London has a long history of creating attention-grabbing menswear.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 13, 2015

Plus, we have a sub—a bald guy with legs like kindling sticks and his name safety-pinned to his shirt like a kindergartener whose mom thought he might forget.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko