pencil in

phrasal verb

penciled in or pencilled in; penciling in or pencilling in; pencils in
: to put (someone or something that may be changed later) on a schedule, list, etc.
Would you like me to pencil you in for Thursday morning at 11?
sometimes used figuratively
He was penciled in as the director's replacement.

Examples of pencil in in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The Twins don’t have a starter penciled in for Game 3 of their next series against the Red Sox, or for the first game of a three-game set Friday at Houston. John Shipley, Twin Cities, 26 July 2025 That was less than the 4,000 from the week before and below the 227,000 that economists polled by Dow Jones had penciled in. Sean Conlon,chloe Taylor, CNBC, 24 July 2025 Chicago has Rome Odunze, D.J. Moore, and Luther Burden III already penciled in as their top three wide receivers. Evan Massey, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 July 2025 The bottom-line result was more than Wall Street was hoping for with EPS 9 cents ahead of the 13 cents analysts had penciled in, according to Yahoo Finance. Evan Clark, Footwear News, 10 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for pencil in

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Pencil in.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pencil%20in. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!