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

Since then, the commercial space sector has exploded, with thousands of satellites launched every year—most no larger than a small desk, many the size of a shoebox. —Charles Beames, Forbes, 8 Jan. 2025

To avoid creating a shoebox feeling in these mini rooms, windows or transparent elements assure that every space receives natural light. —Katharina Schwarze, Architectural Digest, 7 Jan. 2025

One year at Christmas, Valerie and her mom came to our door with a shoebox. —Staff, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Dec. 2024

On one recent morning, trash littered the steps leading down to the garden-level entrance, and a red Nike shoebox sat abandoned in a stone planter. —Bridget Read, Curbed, 15 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined at sense 1