shoebox

noun

shoe·​box ˈshü-ˌbäks 

variants or less commonly shoe box

1

: a box that shoes are sold in

a shoebox full of old photographs

2

: a small space and especially a small living space

The loft, almost an hour from her house by tube, is a shoebox with 18-foot ceilings, white and blue, with odds and ends of mismatched furniture …

—Michael Kimmelman

—often used before another noun

a shoebox apartment

Since commercial real estate was cheaper, art galleries and Off Off Off Broadway theaters could spring up in shoebox storefronts.

—James Wolcott

Examples of shoebox in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Spaeny and Melton, meanwhile, play Ashley Miller and Austin Davis, a young couple roughing it in a shoebox apartment over-the-moon in love with one another. —Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 13 Apr. 2026

The flywheel is small, not unlike an extra large shoebox. —Katia Riddle, NPR, 9 Apr. 2026

Get Creative With Every Inch Maximizing every inch of a cozy cottage will save it from feeling like a shoebox. —Cameron Beall, Southern Living, 1 Apr. 2026

The rooms The Hoxton’s 192 bedrooms come with names like shoebox, cozy up, roomy terrace, and biggy. —Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined at sense 1