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

Pottery Barn’s fall decor launched recently, and one familiar face is filling shopping carts once again. —Isabella Milano, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 Oct. 2025

The Barn Jacket The barn jacket that dominated our spring shopping carts is back and better than ever for fall. —Cortne Bonilla, Vogue, 8 Oct. 2025

And as my current shampoo is down to the last few drops, this is going into my shopping cart, stat. —Alyssa Grabinski, PEOPLE, 6 Oct. 2025

In e-commerce, agents could observe a user’s behavior, shopping cart content, and purchase history to offer product recommendations in real time. —Big Think, 6 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