“Shoo-in” means someone or something that is almost certain to win or succeed, with very little doubt about the outcome.

Core meaning

  • A shoo-in is a person, team, or outcome that is expected to win easily.
  • You’ll often see it in sentences like “She’s a shoo-in for the job” or “That movie is a shoo-in for the award.”

How it’s used

  • Common in:
    • Sports: “They’re shoo-ins for the championship.”
* Politics: “He’s a shoo-in for re-election.”

* Awards or contests: “This book is a shoo-in for the prize.”
  • It carries the idea of a guaranteed or “almost guaranteed” winner, rather than just a slight favorite.

Where the phrase comes from

  • The expression comes from early 20th-century horse racing, where a race might be arranged so one horse would obviously win and the others would be “held back” while jockeys would essentially “shoo” the favored horse toward the finish line.
  • Over time, the cheating sense faded, and now it’s just a casual way to say “clear favorite” or “sure winner.”

Common mistake: “shoe-in”

  • The correct spelling is shoo-in , from the verb “shoo” (to wave something away), not “shoe-in.”
  • “Shoe-in” is a frequent misspelling you might see online, but dictionaries and usage guides list only shoo-in as standard.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.