shopping cart

noun

1

: a metal or plastic cart with four small wheels that is used for holding merchandise when shopping (as at a supermarket or department store)

… about the only amenities besides the jumbo-sized shopping carts are a few flatbed dollies to allow shoppers to get large appliances like refrigerators and washing machines to the cash register and then out to the parking lot.

—Jean Crichton

2

: a temporary record of items selected for eventual purchase from an online vendor's website

To set up shop on the Internet, you need a commerce-enabled Web site, which includes the electronic shopping cart; a connection to the credit card network; and finally, a merchant account …

—Tom Negrino

Delivery charges are the No. 1 reason shoppers abandon a virtual shopping cart, according to Jupiter Media Metrix. Every Internet shopper has a shipping-charge horror story.

—Ellen Neuborn

Examples of shopping cart in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Waldo’s digital shopping cart — and McCurdy’s brusque descriptions of her late-night binges — highlight the gaping, cavernous maw of her wants. —Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 20 Jan. 2026

Below, the five distinct fashion trends that had their heyday 10 whole years ago but which are, someway and somehow, appearing in our shopping carts yet again. —Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 15 Jan. 2026

Sometimes an item grabs your attention from across the aisle—but try to keep your shopping cart or basket close by. —Wendy Rose Gould, Martha Stewart, 14 Jan. 2026

All of this is showing up in our shopping carts. —Alina Selyukh, NPR, 14 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1934, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for shopping cart

• counterpart
• apart
• depart
• flowchart
• forepart
• impart
• pushcart
• rampart
• redstart
• restart
• subpart
• sweetheart