shoestring
Americannoun
-
another word for shoelace
-
informal
-
a very small or petty amount of money (esp in the phrase on a shoestring )
-
( as modifier )
a shoestring budget
-
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.
"Back in the day, it was difficult because you're working on a shoestring budget, trying to make things happen," says Painter.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
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
Over the past five years, Tartt, Bandy and a shoestring staff have trained some 60 people on farming the mountain valleys.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
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
Mama screamed, and I guess I was scared, because I just felt frozen—like I was watchin ’ myself on TV—as the movin’ steps gradually gobbled my shoestring and pulled my foot toward its teeth.
From "Tears of a Tiger" by Sharon M. Draper
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.
