pigeonhole
pigeonhole Lexical Profile
pigeonhole Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To assign someone or something to a restrictive, predetermined category or role, often unfairly or without considering individual complexity.
"Many young actors worry that playing a famous villain early in their career will pigeonhole them for years."
To put a document, proposal, or legislative bill aside in order to delay, ignore, or forget about it.
"The committee voted to pigeonhole the controversial infrastructure bill until the next legislative session."
To place a letter, document, or item into a small sorting compartment.
"The clerk quickly pigeonholed the sorted memoranda according to department."
• noun
A rigid, often overly simplistic or restrictive category into which someone or something is assigned.
"Her eclectic musical style refuses to fit neatly into any conventional commercial pigeonhole."
A small open compartment or recess in a desk, cabinet, or wall used for sorting and storing letters, documents, or papers.
"The receptionist checked the faculty pigeonholes every morning to distribute the incoming mail."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the late 16th century from 'pigeon' and 'hole', originally referring to the small nesting recessed compartments built into the walls of a dovecote. The term was soon applied by visual analogy to the rows of small sorting cubbyholes in writing desks, which in turn gave rise to the figurative sense of rigid categorization in the 19th century.