shoehorn

American  

[shoo-hawrn] / ˈʃuˌhɔrn /

noun

1. a shaped piece of horn, metal, or the like, inserted in the heel of a shoe to make it slip on more easily.

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verb (used with object)

1. to force into a limited or tight space.

   Can you shoehorn four of us into the back seat of your car?

shoehorn British  

/ ˈʃuːˌhɔːn /

noun

1. a smooth curved implement of horn, metal, plastic, etc, inserted at the heel of a shoe to ease the foot into it

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verb

1. (tr) to cram (people or things) into a very small space

Etymology

Origin of shoehorn

First recorded in 1580–90; shoe + horn

Example Sentences

It is hard to shoehorn this spectacle of mass-integration, this enforced loss of crowns and kingdoms, into the idea of partition.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

"These subjects are not the easiest to shoehorn into a three-and-a-half minute song," says Lorde.

From BBC • Jul. 8, 2025

“To shoehorn anything into tiny Disneyland is really hard,” Irvine says, adding, “a lot of people in merchandising would have preferred it was bigger.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2025

Scott, as usual, also needs to shoehorn meaning that he doesn't know how to produce and erase history that he doesn't know how to replace.

From Salon • Dec. 7, 2024

Guides to English grammar were written as pedagogical steppingstones to mastery of Latin grammar, and they tried to shoehorn English constructions into the categories designed for Latin.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Related Words

• embed
• enter
• fill in
• imbed
• implant
• include
• inject
• introduce
• stick