shoebox

noun

shoe·​box ˈshü-ˌbäks How to pronounce shoebox (audio)
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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The Department of Education building is ugly in a distinctly Washington way—a concrete shoebox more suggestive of bureaucratic toil than of any grand vision of government. Emma Green, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025 But don’t kid yourself, this thing is about as aerodynamic as a shoebox taped to a cinder block. New Atlas, 27 Sep. 2025 Germany will present the world’s first code-deployable biological computer, no larger than a shoebox, at a first-class networking summit dedicated to the future of biointelligent value creation. Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 26 Sep. 2025 The company’s smaller sized safes, which begin at $1,350 per year and are the size of a semi-flattened shoebox, are all currently occupied. Kati Chitrakorn, CNN Money, 17 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for shoebox

Word History

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of shoebox was in 1838

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Shoebox.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shoebox. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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