Pigeonholing

Pigeon-hole messageboxes at Stanford University

Pigeonholing is a process that attempts to classify disparate entities into a limited number of categories (usually, mutually exclusive ones).

The term usually carries connotations of criticism, implying that the classification scheme referred to inadequately reflects the entities being sorted, or that it is based on stereotypes.[1]

  1. ^ "Pigeonhole, v.". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). March 2006. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2011. Online version March 2011. An entry for this word was first included in New English Dictionary, 1906.