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.
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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
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
This opens the floor to everyone who has ideas — not just those with the loudest voices or the chutzpah to buttonhole leaders in passing to pitch their ideas.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 24, 2022
She removed one of the cloth flowers from her bouquet and twisted it into the top buttonhole of his green suit.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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
Mr. Cantor and I took flowers over to the groom and his best man to put in their buttonholes.
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
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
At a moment of vulnerability, Harper is buttonholed by an old classmate named Sue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2025
In one city in the region, Denain, a woman buttonholed him on a campaign stop with strong criticism about his presidency, his handling of the pandemic and schools.
From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2022
The judge agreed, and for a moment Hale personally buttonholed Burkhart in the courtroom, the plot unfolding this time right in front of White.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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
But Mrs Kelsey's medical records, which BBC News has seen, show she suffered a great deal after she started buttonholing.
From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2024
They’ve had mixed success buttonholing people on the street to pose.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 21, 2023
A young William Boeing showed up day after day, buttonholing every pilot he could for a skyride.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2023
He enjoyed buttonholing people he met in our "graveyard" and pointing out where they "must shortly lie."
From Memories and Anecdotes by Kate Sanborn
Vocabulary lists containing buttonhole
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