Meaning

11 senses
  1. One of an array of open compartments for housing pigeons in a dovecote or pigeon loft.

    Holonyms: pigeon loft, dovecote, columbary, columbarium

    голуби́ное гнездо́golubínoje gnezdó

  2. (broadly)One of an array of open compartments in a desk, set of shelves, etc., used for sorting or storing letters, papers, or other items.

  3. One of an array of open compartments in a desk, set of shelves, etc., used for sorting or storing letters, papers, or other items.

    (broadly)One of an array of open compartments for receiving mail and other messages at a college, office, etc.

    Fred was disappointed to find his pigeonhole empty except for bills and a flyer offering 20% off on manicures.

    Fach

    отделе́ние для бума́гotdelénije dlja bumág

  4. (broadly)A compartment or cubicle in a room or other place, especially one which is (excessively) small.

    a small compartment

  5. (broadly)A small opening for looking or passing things through.

  6. (also, attributive, broadly, historical, in the plural)A form of stocks with openings for restraining a person's hands or feet; also, one of the openings in the device.

  7. (figuratively)A notional category or class into which someone or something is placed.

  8. (archaic)A hole or opening in a door or wall for a pigeon to pass through.

  9. A small opening for looking or passing things through.

    (archaic, broadly)An opening in a ship for passing equipment such as an oar or rigging through.

  10. (broadly, obsolete)A seat in the top row of the gallery of a theatre.

  11. (archaic, figuratively)A space between two words that is too wide.

Examples

5 sentences
  1. Tom's acting career was pigeonholed as a slapstick comedian.

  2. He's skilled at pigeonholing his political opponents' policies as "unamerican."

  3. Don't pigeonhole me! I can do more than one thing.

  4. When actors decide to become musicians, they usually become pigeonholed quickly.

    deWenn Schauspieler sich als Musiker versuchen, werden sie für gewöhnlich schnell in eine Schublade gesteckt. — hjoest

  5. The media had attempted to pigeonhole the indie rock band as a mere novelty.

Translations

5 languages
Русский
By meaning 2
one of an array of open compartments for housing pigeons in a dovecote:
one of an array of open compartments in a desk, set of shelves, etc., used for sorting and/or storing letters, papers, or other items; one of an array of open compartments for receiving mail and other messages at a college, office, etc.:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
one of an array of open compartments in a desk, set of shelves, etc., used for sorting and/or storing letters, papers, or other items; one of an array of open compartments for receiving mail and other messages at a college, office, etc.:

Origin

The noun is derived from pigeon + hole. The verb is derived from the noun.

The noun is derived from pigeon + hole. The verb is derived from the noun.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: pigeonholes

Synonyms

2 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

3 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

pigeonhole — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto