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

The officers located and approached Guzman, who was pushing a shopping cart with the boy inside. —Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 15 Apr. 2026

Try to minimize the time your salad bag spends unrefrigerated, and perhaps place it in your shopping cart next to other cold foods. —Sarah Bence, Verywell Health, 6 Apr. 2026

Leafy greens like spinach and tender carrots, radishes, and broccoli are filling up the baskets and your shopping cart. —Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 3 Apr. 2026

Those who leave shopping carts in parking spaces. —Lois K. Solomon, Sun Sentinel, 30 Mar. 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