Meaning & use
buttonhole
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A small slit or stitched opening in a garment that a button is pushed through to fasten it.
Grammar: Takes a plural: three buttonholes. Often paired with button: the button and the buttonhole.
Patterns
- sew a buttonhole
- fit through the buttonhole
The top buttonhole on my shirt has frayed and needs mending.
She stitched a neat buttonhole in the new jacket.
This button is too big for the buttonhole.
nouncountableBritish
A single flower or small bunch worn pinned to a lapel, especially at a wedding.
Grammar: Mostly British. It is the thing worn, not the hole itself: wear a buttonhole.
Patterns
- wear a buttonhole
- a rose buttonhole
The groom wore a white rose as a buttonhole.
The florist made a buttonhole for every male guest.
Dad pinned a small carnation buttonhole to his coat.
verbtransitiveinformal
To stop someone and force them to listen to you, usually at length, when they would rather leave.
Grammar: Takes a person as the object: he buttonholed me. It is usually in the past tense or a passive form.
Patterns
- buttonhole someone about something
- get buttonholed by someone
A reporter buttonholed the minister as she left the building.
I got buttonholed by a neighbor who wanted to talk about parking.
He buttonholed me at the party and told me his entire business plan.
Word forms
| plural | buttonholes |
|---|---|
| third person singular | buttonholes |
| past tense | buttonholed |
| past participle | buttonholed |
| present participle | buttonholing |
Common combinations
- sew a buttonhole
- It takes practice to sew a buttonhole by hand.
- torn buttonhole
- A torn buttonhole made the coat impossible to close.
- wear a buttonhole
- Every guest was asked to wear a buttonhole.
- buttonhole someone about something
- She buttonholed me about the school fundraiser.
- get buttonholed
- I always get buttonholed at conferences.
Synonyms and how they differ
- accost
- Accost is more formal and can imply aggression, while buttonhole suggests a persistent talker, not a threat.
- waylay
- Waylay stresses lying in wait to stop someone, whereas buttonhole stresses holding them in conversation.
- corner
- Corner suggests trapping someone physically and is a close, more casual match for the verb sense.
- boutonniere
- Boutonniere is the American word for the flower sense and sounds more formal than the British buttonhole.
Word family
- button noun
- the small fastener the hole receives
- button verb
- to fasten with buttons
- buttonholed adjective
- stopped and talked at by someone
- buttoned-up adjective
- reserved or formal in manner
Commonly confused: buttonhole or boutonniere?
buttonhole vs boutonniere
A boutonniere is the American term for a flower worn on a lapel. In British English that flower is a buttonhole, while the buttonhole in American English is just the slit.
Practice
Which sentence uses buttonhole as a verb?
Choose one answer.
Only the third sentence uses the word as a verb, meaning to stop someone and make them listen. The others are noun uses for the slit or the flower.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “buttonhole”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.