Idiom
square peg in a round hole
Meaning
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.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He feels like a square peg in a round hole at his new job.”
“The creative artist felt like a square peg in a round hole while working in the strict, numbers-focused accounting firm.”
“Trying to use this old software on a modern computer is like putting a square peg in a round hole because the systems are simply not compatible.”
“Despite his best efforts to conform to the rigid expectations of the academy, he remained a square peg in a round hole, forever alienated by its narrow traditions.”
Examples
simple
“He feels like a square peg in a round hole at his new job.”
contextual
“The creative artist felt like a square peg in a round hole while working in the strict, numbers-focused accounting firm.”
“Trying to use this old software on a modern computer is like putting a square peg in a round hole because the systems are simply not compatible.”
complex
“Despite his best efforts to conform to the rigid expectations of the academy, he remained a square peg in a round hole, forever alienated by its narrow traditions.”
Origin
Commonly associated with a shape sorter, a baby toy that consists of (often wooden) pegs that need to be inserted through holes in a box, using the hole that has the same shape as the peg. While all the shapes are of roughly equal size, each peg will only fit in the hole that has the same shape. Inserting a peg in a different hole would require either modifying or breaking the toy.
Key words
Related idioms
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