shoestring
Americannoun
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another word for shoelace
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informal
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a very small or petty amount of money (esp in the phrase on a shoestring )
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( as modifier )
a shoestring budget
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Etymology
Origin of shoestring
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Rather, he’s using a shoestring budget to concoct left-of-center sights that feel like a peek into a specific Los Angeles netherworld.
From Salon • Apr. 5, 2026
On the grandest stage, they simply couldn’t overcome their richer, name-brand foes, always in need of one or two more good players that they couldn’t afford on their shoestring budget.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 12, 2025
"It was all done on a shoestring budget," he said.
From BBC • Sep. 23, 2025
“Any abortion recovery room I’ve ever been in has the good tea,” Krajewski told me, adding that it’s usually staff who pay for these refreshments since clinics often operate on shoestring budgets.
From Slate • Sep. 7, 2025
He was running the Department of Medicine on a shoestring.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
