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

E-commerce transactions are managed end-to-end without friction, from building a shopping cart and applying discounts to arranging delivery and processing returns. —Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 3 Nov. 2025

Add it to your shopping cart now. —Michelle Baricevic, Travel + Leisure, 30 Oct. 2025

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, noticed the black-and-white cat perched on the bottom of a shopping cart outside Target on October 4. —Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Oct. 2025

The spectrum labels led to healthier food choices in the virtual shopping cart. —Sheah Rarback, Miami Herald, 23 Oct. 2025

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