buttonhole
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.
See Examples For:
They relied on Griffin, who utilized her thick Rolodexes and neighborhood connections to buttonhole politicians, community members and others to fight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
"Since I was born I have never experienced stable power supply. We call ourselves the giant of Africa but we can't fix electricity," complains Mr Adah as he works on a buttonhole.
From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2023
For days as the historic floor fight played out, Mr. McCarthy had remained in his seat and dispatched allies to buttonhole the remaining holdouts privately.
From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2023
They have lunches, meet at conferences, buttonhole departmental women visitors, set up private Facebook pages and Slack channels, and are all over Twitter.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 25, 2022
With shaking hands, I threaded the needle and figured out how to stab it through the buttonhole, but it came right out the other side.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
His red coat with black trim, red waistcoat with hand-stitched buttonholes and gold regimental buttons, and white breeches “represent the only complete uniform of the Revolutionary war.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
The golf stories are narrated by the “oldest member” of an upper-class golf club who buttonholes unwary younger members to regale them with his memories of golfers he has known.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2025
David Whelan said his brother must work at least eight hours a day, six days a week, on menial tasks like making buttonholes, which has caused him repetitive strain injury.
From Reuters ● Nov. 3, 2022
This he tailored into surprisingly well-fitting shirts and pants, complete with pockets, belt loops, and properly sewn buttonholes.
From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2022
His brown hair is tousled, his shirt buttons in the wrong buttonholes.
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
Clare buttonholed Archer and, according to his own account, the would-be candidate burst into tears and asked that the story be quashed.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
Tegmark buttonholed Elon Musk at a 2014 MIT conference on space, after one of his students asked a question that prompted the billionaire’s now-famous quip that, with AI, “we are summoning the demon.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 4, 2026
So she buttonholed Rubinstien while he was out walking his dog, a pit bull mix named Chubbs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2023
Seeing the minister walk back in, Oumar buttonholed her and asked what would become of their proposals.
From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2021
When he got back ashore, he walked up to a reporter at the shell house, buttonholed him, and rendered a startling verdict: “Tom Bolles has a fine rough-water boat,” he said quietly but forcefully.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Its tone and rhythms are oracular and epic, as if some ancient prophet is buttonholing you to tell you how the world has always been and will always be.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
When Dr Macanovic examined the records of 15 patients using the buttonholing technique at the QA, she found infection rates four times higher than they experienced using the standard technique.
From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2024
Then Mr. Traum tried buttonholing people on the street.
From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2024
They’ve had mixed success buttonholing people on the street to pose.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 21, 2023
No, indeed—I—" "Sir," said the Duchess, buttonholing him again, "I insist!
From The Amateur Gentleman by Jeffery Farnol
Vocabulary lists containing buttonhole
