pigeonhole

“If we embrace narrow group-based identities too fiercely, we cling to the very cages in which others would seek to trap us. We pigeonhole ourselves.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026

“I’m not going to pigeonhole myself into any plans,” McVay said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2025

"Aerospace has something for people with different backgrounds, different qualifications, there's so much variety. So don't pigeonhole yourself, there really is something for everyone here."

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2025

We wanted to cover a wide range of genres and a wide range of eras because we didn't want to pigeonhole the movie that it was going to be all boy band pop music.

From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2024

When the knock came on her door she put the envelopes in a pigeonhole of her desk.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

Somewhere along the way if you're a young actor coming up, you can bet there are pigeonholes for everyone.

From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2024

“It pigeonholes you. I remember having a conversation with my dad in ’74.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2019

Can't it be about something bigger - anger at critics, the guy who grabbed her then sued her, the world in general that pigeonholes women?

From New York Times ● Nov. 9, 2017

And nothing pigeonholes an artist faster than becoming a one-hit wonder — a fact of which he’s painfully aware.

From The Verge ● Nov. 12, 2015

She put all of her papers neatly in the pigeonholes of her desk, and when Joe brought the tea tray she had him put it beside her bed.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

But one gets the sense that Thatcher’s worried about being pigeonholed.

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026

British coach Fran Jones - a namesake of the British number four - found herself "pigeonholed" coaching under-14s without being aware of opportunities that existed beyond that level.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

Many actors are pigeonholed by a successful TV series.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

“You can get pigeonholed really quickly,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026

Jazz celebrity though he was, Duke Ellington disliked his music being pigeonholed as ‘jazz’; he preferred simply to call it ‘American music’, and he experimented in many forms and genres.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Points, too, for the solid casting, from the leads’ tricky pivoting from openness to caginess, to the criminally underseen Wasikowska, who navigates maternal complexities of worry and compassion that confound easy pigeonholing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026

And I don't know, I guess just not pigeonholing people.

From Salon ● Mar. 30, 2024

Where artists used to hate being pigeonholed, now they do the pigeonholing themselves.

From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2023

Aside from the expressive art, “the story is not so much a story as an affirmation, about identity and being open to change and not pigeonholing yourself.”

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 13, 2023

It offers no nifty formulas for pigeonholing people or decoding folkways and manners.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times