Word.ws English Dictionary

put the same shoe on every foot

put the same shoe on every foot phrase: to attempt to apply a single solution to different problems.

Phrase

put the same shoe on every foot

  1. (idiomatic) To attempt to apply a single solution to different problems.
    • The king of England, who is your holiness's son, is not so like the rest of the world. We cannot put the same shoe on every foot.1883, Victor Lafayette Conrad, The Luther Memorial, page 772
    • You would laugh at a cobbler who should attempt to put the same shoe on every foot.2007, Robert Mayhew, Essays on Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, →ISBN, page 122

Origin of put the same shoe on every foot

From the proverb, you cannot put the same shoe on every foot.

Questions about put the same shoe on every foot

What does put the same shoe on every foot mean?
Put the same shoe on every foot means to attempt to apply a single solution to different problems.
What part of speech is put the same shoe on every foot?
Put the same shoe on every foot is a phrase.

Words near put the same shoe on every foot in the dictionary

  1. put the plug in the jug
  2. put the pot on
  3. put the question to
  4. put the record straight
  5. put the saddle on the right horse
  6. put the same shoe on every foot
  7. put the screw
  8. put the screws
  9. put the shits up someone
  10. put the shoe on the other foot
  11. put the squeeze on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: put the same shoe on every foot (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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