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

And if the sneakers themselves didn’t go heavy enough with the prehistoric theme, the shoebox is also fully decked out with a dinosaur motif which, when opened, is intended to look like a Tyrannosaurus opening its mouth. —Riley Jones, Footwear News, 6 Jan. 2026

Jesse was buried in a shoebox, tied with a red ribbon, and laid to rest at Priceville Memorial Gardens in Tupelo. —Bob Mehr, Memphis Commercial Appeal, 6 Jan. 2026

If this were a movie, my opening scene shows Charlotte Cowles frantically stuffing $50,000 in cash in a shoebox. —Dave Lieber, Dallas Morning News, 1 Jan. 2026

Progress toward a wearable After perfecting the shoebox version, MIT engineers built a prototype the size of a cellphone. —Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 14 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined at sense 1