squeeze through

Idioms  

1. Also, squeeze by. Manage to pass, win, or survive by a narrow margin, as in We squeezed through the second round of playoffs, or There was just enough food stored in the cabin for us to squeeze by until the hurricane ended. This idiom uses squeeze in the sense of “succeed by means of compression.” [c. 1700] Also see squeak by.

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Example Sentences

In the narrow streets of Mochi gate, customers hold their paper kites overhead to stop them getting ripped as they squeeze through the crowd and past the occasional slow moving motorbike.

From BBC • Feb. 7, 2026

But bighorn — with their broad, curved horns — can’t squeeze through.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2026

If we were to squeeze through small cracks in his mind’s cavern walls or crawl down its miniaturized hallways toward Erickson's nerve center, we might find ourselves in a room with a broken printer.

From Salon • Feb. 15, 2025

Once the pore is open enough, the capsid is elastic enough to squeeze through.

From Science Daily • Jan. 25, 2024

Even if her arm hadn’t been injured, the hole would have been hard for her to squeeze through.

From "Time Bomb" by Joelle Charbonneau