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.
He finally got some funding from Norman Lear himself and shot the movie on a shoestring budget.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 15, 2025
A subscription to the Proloquo speech app alone would cost $300 a year out-of-pocket — more than she can afford on her shoestring budget.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 29, 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
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.
