PIGEONHOLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pigeonhole mean? 

• PIGEONHOLE (noun)
  The noun PIGEONHOLE has 2 senses:

1. a specific (often simplistic) category

2. a small compartment

  Familiarity information: PIGEONHOLE used as a noun is rare.

• PIGEONHOLE (verb)
  The verb PIGEONHOLE has 2 senses:

1. place into a small compartment

2. treat or classify according to a mental stereotype

  Familiarity information: PIGEONHOLE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PIGEONHOLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A specific (often simplistic) category

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("pigeonhole" is a kind of...):

category (a general concept that marks divisions or coordinations in a conceptual scheme)

Derivation:

pigeonhole (treat or classify according to a mental stereotype)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A small compartment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

cubbyhole; pigeonhole

Hypernyms ("pigeonhole" is a kind of...):

compartment (a space into which an area is subdivided)

Derivation:

pigeonhole (place into a small compartment)

• PIGEONHOLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they pigeonhole    ... he / she / it pigeonholes   
Past simple: pigeonholed   
Past participle: pigeonholed   
-ing form: pigeonholing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Place into a small compartment

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "pigeonhole" is one way to...):

lay; place; pose; position; put; set (put into a certain place or abstract location)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pigeonhole (a small compartment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Treat or classify according to a mental stereotype

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

pigeonhole; stamp; stereotype

Context example:

I was stereotyped as a lazy Southern European

Hypernyms (to "pigeonhole" is one way to...):

assort; class; classify; separate; sort; sort out (arrange or order by classes or categories)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

pigeonhole (a specific (often simplistic) category)

pigeonholing (a system for classifying things into groups)

 Context examples 

You would have compressed me into a two-by- four pigeonhole of life, where all life's values are unreal, and false, and vulgar.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Tell Inspector Patterson that the papers which he needs to convict the gang are in pigeonhole M., done up in a blue envelope and inscribed ‘Moriarty.’

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Amy's chief delight was an Indian cabinet, full of queer drawers, little pigeonholes, and secret places, in which were kept all sorts of ornaments, some precious, some merely curious, all more or less antique.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

This man, whose clay was so plastic that he could live in any number of pigeonholes of human existence, she thought wilful and most obstinate because she could not shape him to live in her pigeonhole, which was the only one she knew.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)