Word.ws English Dictionary

square pegs in round holes

square pegs in round holes is the plural of square peg in a round hole.

Meaning of square peg in a round hole

Noun

square peg in a round hole (plural square pegs in round holes)

  1. (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.
    • ["]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...[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
    Synonyms:
    like a fish out of water

Questions about square pegs in round holes

What is square pegs in round holes the plural of?
Square pegs in round holes is the plural of square peg in a round hole.

Words near square pegs in round holes in the dictionary

  1. square off
  2. square on
  3. square one
  4. square one's shoulders
  5. square peg in a round hole
  6. square pegs in round holes
  7. square piano
  8. square pianos
  9. square pyramid
  10. square pyramids
  11. square rig

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: square pegs in round holes (page history and authors); square peg in a round hole (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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