as in dime
a very small sum of money
trying to start a business on a shoestring
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as in spindly
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shoestring
Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 23 Dec. 2024
The latest quiz show from the team behind The 1% Club and The Weakest Link is a fun, play-along offering that can be made, if required, on a shoestring.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 16 Oct. 2024
Jennifer Epstein, Bloomberg.com, 7 May 2020
In Greater Cincinnati, a mighty, mostly volunteer needle-exchange effort on a shoestring budget started in 2014.
—Terry Demio, USA TODAY, 15 Dec. 2019
See all Example Sentences for shoestring 
Noun
Yet for beginning drivers from L.A. and Orange County, who are struggling to race on a shoestring budget, that track might just as well be on another planet.
—Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 23 Dec. 2024
The latest quiz show from the team behind The 1% Club and The Weakest Link is a fun, play-along offering that can be made, if required, on a shoestring.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 16 Oct. 2024
Adjective
In 2016, the Trump campaign relied on stadium rallies, TV appearances and social media to compensate for its shoestring budget and thin staffing.
—Jennifer Epstein, Bloomberg.com, 7 May 2020
In Greater Cincinnati, a mighty, mostly volunteer needle-exchange effort on a shoestring budget started in 2014.
—Terry Demio, USA TODAY, 15 Dec. 2019
See all Example Sentences for shoestring
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shoestring
Noun
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Namely, making a downhill defender have to turn on a dime and sprint uphill, backpedaling between wing and prayer.—
Sean Keeler,
The Denver Post,
3 Feb. 2025
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Cumming investigated Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, known for her lavish international trips on the taxpayer’s dime and problems accurately reporting her finances.—
David Williams,
Baltimore Sun,
29 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Two dense clusters of the spindly florals become a bikini-tie top, worn with an open-front catsuit that looks like it was drawn directly onto the models body.—
Leah Dolan,
CNN,
4 Feb. 2025
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Listing photos suggest even the décor is unchanged: spindly furniture, oil paintings, and, in that dining room, the kind of plush fabric wall coverings that entice curious fingertips in the decorative wing of the Met.—
Adriane Quinlan,
Curbed,
29 July 2024
Adjective
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Bidot's first photo sees her in a green bikini with a stringy top that cinches in the middle and high-leg bottoms.—
Rachel Raposas,
People.com,
30 Jan. 2025
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In a photo Estrada used to announce a reward for his capture, Wedding had long, stringy hair that seemed to be thinning, steely blue eyes, and a beard.—
Jesse Hyde,
Rolling Stone,
4 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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He’s got a whole team scouring the subway for a tall, lanky, besuited man challenging down-on-their-luck strangers to one-on-one ddakji.—
Tony Maglio,
IndieWire,
16 Jan. 2025
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Paul is in his sixties but has a youthful and bohemian air, with a tall, lanky frame, a ponytail down his back, and the tattoos of past lives along the surface of his arms.—
Rachel Kushner,
Harper's Magazine,
2 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Michelle Troconis, the 49-year-old Venezuelan socialite who was convicted on Friday for conspiracy to commit murder, is tall, willowy, and as beautiful as a newscaster.—
Rich Cohen,
airmail.news,
2 Mar. 2024
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Kidman, who’s nearly six feet tall, impossibly willowy, and the precise shade of a scoop of vanilla ice cream, has never been an Everywoman.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
4 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Chalamet sulks and talks out of the side of his mouth, picking from a grab bag of accents that vary with each scene—all of which are far more reedy and cartoonish than Dylan actually sounded in his younger days.—
Madison Bloom,
Pitchfork,
10 Dec. 2024
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He was guided through the motions of the fry station by a reedy, goateed young man, an actual employee, who had been caught up in the candidate’s maudlin cosplay of worker solidarity.—
E. Tammy Kim,
The New Yorker,
1 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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By relaxing the rule, Nevada might get access to additional eggs, but the supply of all eggs remains tight because nearly 159 million birds have been slaughtered since the bird flu outbreak began in 2022 to help limit virus spread.—
Josh Funk,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Feb. 2025
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Either one of these increases could significantly curtail an endowment's ability to make future investments, and even the threat may cause endowment managers to hold their wallets tighter.—
Dan Primack,
Axios,
14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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His tools are evident: The ability to hang onto the puck under pressure for a rangier player, or split through traffic to handle underneath sticks, the ability to skate and shoot, the pro frame (listed by the Eagles at 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds), etc.—
Scott Wheeler,
The Athletic,
17 Jan. 2025
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The young defenceman was rangy, wanted desperately to be a beast to play against and offered some mobility.—
Joshua Kloke,
The Athletic,
4 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near shoestring
Cite this Entry
“Shoestring.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shoestring. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
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