Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

shoestring

American  
[shoo-string] / ˈʃuˌstrɪŋ /

noun

  1. a shoelace.

  2. a very small amount of money.

  3. shoestrings. shoestring potatoes.

adjective

  1. consisting of or characterized by a small amount of money.

    living on a shoestring budget.
shoestring British  
/ ˈʃuːˌstrɪŋ /

noun

  1. another word for shoelace

  2. informal

    1. a very small or petty amount of money (esp in the phrase on a shoestring )

    2. ( as modifier )

      a shoestring budget
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
shoestring Idioms  

  1. see on a shoestring.

Etymology

Origin of shoestring

First recorded in 1610–20; shoe + string

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.

And when the local water became too toxic to drink this August, Operation Shoestring gave families filters.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 20, 2022

Organizations such as Operation Shoestring, and the at-risk populations that rely on those funds, continue to feel the sting.

From Washington Post • Sep. 27, 2022

After fires, illness and neighbor squabbles, the book ends with the youngest Slater boy, Shoestring, wanting “to git book-larnin’.”

From New York Times • Apr. 7, 2021

Banks Stewart went on to create two successful BBC series - Shoestring, starring Trevor Eve as a private eye, and Bergerac, the popular police drama set on Jersey which ran for 10 years.

From BBC • Feb. 2, 2016

Dorothy clicked away, capturing images of the stalwart Shoestring Glacier sitting astride the mountain’s rocky top.

From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone

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.