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
The cutesy performance shtick around a shoestring variety show — imagine Pee-wee’s Playhouse without the bewitching oddity — grows wearying.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 24, 2025
"It was all done on a shoestring budget," he said.
From BBC • Sep. 23, 2025
Bingham had never before sold to an individual company, let alone a shoestring operation on Sheriff Street.
From "Outliers" 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.
