See square peg in a round hole on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "From the fact that a square peg fits poorly in a round hole.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "square pegs in round holes",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "square pegs in round holes"
},
"expansion": "square peg in a round hole (plural square pegs in round holes)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
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"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
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},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Cantonese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Macedonian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
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"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Russian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Turkish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Vietnamese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "[1873, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XXI, in Kenelm Chillingly: His Adventures and Opinions […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book II, page 352:",
"text": "[\"]Now, your son's case is really your case—you see it through the medium of your likings and dislikings—and insist upon forcing a square peg into a round hole, because in a round hole you, being a round peg, feel tight and comfortable. Now I call that irrational.\" / \"I don't see why my son has any right to fancy himself a square peg,\" said the farmer, doggedly, \"when his father, and his grandfather, and his great-grandfather, have been round pegs; and it is agin' nature for any creature not to take after its own kind.[\"]",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LIV, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC, page 282:",
"text": "To these people, native and European, he was a queer fish, but they were used to queer fish, and they took him for granted; […] In England and France he was the square peg in the round hole, but here the holes were any sort of shape, and no sort of peg was quite amiss.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "[1985 July 9, Eugene Gressman, witness, “Statement of a Panel, including: Elliot H. Levitas, Esq., Kilpatrick & Cody, Washington, DC; Stuart E. Eizenstat, Esq., Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy, Washington, DC; Stan M. Brand, Esq., Brand & Lowell, Washington, DC; and Eugene Gressman, Professor of Constitutional Law, School of Law, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill”, in Rulemaking Procedures Reform Act of 1985: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-ninth Congress, First Session on S. 1145: A Bill to Increase the Accountability of, Policy Coordination by, and Management of Priorities by Agencies through an Improved Mechanism for Congressional Oversight of the Rules of Agencies […] (Serial J-99-38), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 77:",
"text": "It is almost as if you have guidelines for putting a square peg into a square hole, but we are trying to apply those same guidelines to put a square peg into a round hole.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "[2005, Gini Graham Scott, “Dealing with Danger”, in A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses: Dealing with Bullies, Idiots, Back-stabbers, and Other Managers from Hell, New York, N.Y.: AMACOM, American Management Association, →ISBN, part V (Ethical Challenges), page 153:",
"text": "As they say, you can't fit a square peg in a round hole. If your boss is like that round hole and you are that square peg, you aren't going to fit in unless you re-shape your edges. If you can't do that, then look for that square hole where you will fit.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting; a misfit; hence, someone or something that will not succeed in an endeavour, except possibly with much effort and force."
],
"id": "en-square_peg_in_a_round_hole-en-noun-sZ-PPk8Y",
"links": [
[
"fit",
"fit#Verb"
],
[
"setting",
"setting#Noun"
],
[
"misfit",
"misfit#Noun"
],
[
"succeed",
"succeed"
],
[
"endeavour",
"endeavor#Noun"
],
[
"possibly",
"possibly"
],
[
"effort",
"effort#Noun"
],
[
"force",
"force#Noun"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting; a misfit; hence, someone or something that will not succeed in an endeavour, except possibly with much effort and force."
],
"related": [
{
"english": "semantic overlap regarding a difficult problem",
"word": "square the circle"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "like a fish out of water"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "yue",
"lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
"note": "牛頭唔搭馬嘴 /牛头唔搭马嘴 (ngau⁴ tau⁴ m⁴ daap³ maa⁵ zeoi², literally “a cow’s head doesn’t fit with a horse’s mouth”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"note": "方枘圓鑿 /方枘圆凿 (fāngruìyuánzuò, literally “a square handle on a round chisel”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"note": "格格不入 (gégébùrù, literally “unable to enter the squares”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"Yangzhou"
],
"word": "六不答對 /六不答对"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"note": "驢脣不對馬嘴 /驴唇不对马嘴 (lǘchún bù duì mǎzuǐ, literally “a donkey’s lips don’t fit with a horse’s mouth”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"code": "mk",
"lang": "Macedonian",
"note": "ри́ба на́ суво (ríba ná suvo, literally “fish on land”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "как коро́ве седло́ (kak koróve sedló, literally “like a saddle [would fit/for] a cow”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"word": "dam başında saksağan vur beline kazmayı"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"word": "bizim köpek sizin eve baltayı getirdimi"
},
{
"code": "vi",
"lang": "Vietnamese",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"word": "râu ông nọ cắm cằm bà kia"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/skwɛə ˌpɛɡ ɪn‿ə ɹaʊnd ˈhəʊl/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/skwɛː-/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/skwɛəɹ ˌpɛɡ ɪn‿ə ɹaʊnd ˈhoʊl/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "En-au-square peg in a round hole.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/11/En-au-square_peg_in_a_round_hole.ogg/En-au-square_peg_in_a_round_hole.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/En-au-square_peg_in_a_round_hole.ogg"
},
{
"rhymes": "-əʊl"
}
],
"word": "square peg in a round hole"
}
{
"etymology_text": "From the fact that a square peg fits poorly in a round hole.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "square pegs in round holes",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "square pegs in round holes"
},
"expansion": "square peg in a round hole (plural square pegs in round holes)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"english": "semantic overlap regarding a difficult problem",
"word": "square the circle"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms with quotations",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Requests for review of Japanese translations",
"Rhymes:English/əʊl",
"Rhymes:English/əʊl/6 syllables",
"Terms with Cantonese translations",
"Terms with Japanese translations",
"Terms with Macedonian translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Turkish translations",
"Terms with Vietnamese translations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "[1873, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XXI, in Kenelm Chillingly: His Adventures and Opinions […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book II, page 352:",
"text": "[\"]Now, your son's case is really your case—you see it through the medium of your likings and dislikings—and insist upon forcing a square peg into a round hole, because in a round hole you, being a round peg, feel tight and comfortable. Now I call that irrational.\" / \"I don't see why my son has any right to fancy himself a square peg,\" said the farmer, doggedly, \"when his father, and his grandfather, and his great-grandfather, have been round pegs; and it is agin' nature for any creature not to take after its own kind.[\"]",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LIV, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC, page 282:",
"text": "To these people, native and European, he was a queer fish, but they were used to queer fish, and they took him for granted; […] In England and France he was the square peg in the round hole, but here the holes were any sort of shape, and no sort of peg was quite amiss.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "[1985 July 9, Eugene Gressman, witness, “Statement of a Panel, including: Elliot H. Levitas, Esq., Kilpatrick & Cody, Washington, DC; Stuart E. Eizenstat, Esq., Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy, Washington, DC; Stan M. Brand, Esq., Brand & Lowell, Washington, DC; and Eugene Gressman, Professor of Constitutional Law, School of Law, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill”, in Rulemaking Procedures Reform Act of 1985: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-ninth Congress, First Session on S. 1145: A Bill to Increase the Accountability of, Policy Coordination by, and Management of Priorities by Agencies through an Improved Mechanism for Congressional Oversight of the Rules of Agencies […] (Serial J-99-38), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 77:",
"text": "It is almost as if you have guidelines for putting a square peg into a square hole, but we are trying to apply those same guidelines to put a square peg into a round hole.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "[2005, Gini Graham Scott, “Dealing with Danger”, in A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses: Dealing with Bullies, Idiots, Back-stabbers, and Other Managers from Hell, New York, N.Y.: AMACOM, American Management Association, →ISBN, part V (Ethical Challenges), page 153:",
"text": "As they say, you can't fit a square peg in a round hole. If your boss is like that round hole and you are that square peg, you aren't going to fit in unless you re-shape your edges. If you can't do that, then look for that square hole where you will fit.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting; a misfit; hence, someone or something that will not succeed in an endeavour, except possibly with much effort and force."
],
"links": [
[
"fit",
"fit#Verb"
],
[
"setting",
"setting#Noun"
],
[
"misfit",
"misfit#Noun"
],
[
"succeed",
"succeed"
],
[
"endeavour",
"endeavor#Noun"
],
[
"possibly",
"possibly"
],
[
"effort",
"effort#Noun"
],
[
"force",
"force#Noun"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting; a misfit; hence, someone or something that will not succeed in an endeavour, except possibly with much effort and force."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "like a fish out of water"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/skwɛə ˌpɛɡ ɪn‿ə ɹaʊnd ˈhəʊl/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/skwɛː-/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/skwɛəɹ ˌpɛɡ ɪn‿ə ɹaʊnd ˈhoʊl/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "En-au-square peg in a round hole.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/11/En-au-square_peg_in_a_round_hole.ogg/En-au-square_peg_in_a_round_hole.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/En-au-square_peg_in_a_round_hole.ogg"
},
{
"rhymes": "-əʊl"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "yue",
"lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
"note": "牛頭唔搭馬嘴 /牛头唔搭马嘴 (ngau⁴ tau⁴ m⁴ daap³ maa⁵ zeoi², literally “a cow’s head doesn’t fit with a horse’s mouth”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"note": "方枘圓鑿 /方枘圆凿 (fāngruìyuánzuò, literally “a square handle on a round chisel”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"note": "格格不入 (gégébùrù, literally “unable to enter the squares”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"Yangzhou"
],
"word": "六不答對 /六不答对"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"note": "驢脣不對馬嘴 /驴唇不对马嘴 (lǘchún bù duì mǎzuǐ, literally “a donkey’s lips don’t fit with a horse’s mouth”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"code": "mk",
"lang": "Macedonian",
"note": "ри́ба на́ суво (ríba ná suvo, literally “fish on land”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "как коро́ве седло́ (kak koróve sedló, literally “like a saddle [would fit/for] a cow”)",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"word": "dam başında saksağan vur beline kazmayı"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"word": "bizim köpek sizin eve baltayı getirdimi"
},
{
"code": "vi",
"lang": "Vietnamese",
"sense": "someone or something that does not fit well or at all in a certain setting",
"word": "râu ông nọ cắm cằm bà kia"
}
],
"word": "square peg in a round hole"
}
Download raw JSONL data for square peg in a round hole meaning in All languages combined (7.6kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (b941637 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.