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

Those who leave shopping carts in parking spaces. —Lois K. Solomon, Sun Sentinel, 30 Mar. 2026

Upon reaching the entrance, customers were greeted by lion dancers and dozens of bright red shopping carts ready to be piled high with Korean snacks, noodles, fresh seafood and produce, takeout Korean dishes and more from what’s become the largest Asian supermarket chain in the United States. —Shae Hammond, Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2026

Following successful tenures at Lacoste and Carven, her Bottega Veneta debut arrived to strong acclaim—and, to no one’s surprise, full shopping carts. —Laura Jackson, Vogue, 25 Mar. 2026

As for what’s already in my shopping cart from these new drops? —Jessica Chapel, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 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