Meaning & use
shoebox or shoe box
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Meanings
nouncountable
A sturdy box that new shoes are sold in, often kept for storing small items.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a shoebox' or 'shoeboxes'.
Patterns
- a shoebox of something
- in a shoebox
She keeps her old photographs in a shoebox under the bed.
The kitten was sleeping in an empty shoe box.
He stacked the shoeboxes in the closet.
nouncountableinformaldisapproving
A very small, cramped room or apartment, especially in a city.
Grammar: Often used disapprovingly to describe tiny living spaces.
Patterns
- a shoebox apartment
- live in a shoebox
After graduation, I rented a shoebox in the city center.
Their first apartment was a real shoe box, but they loved it.
Word forms
| plural | shoeboxes |
|---|
Common combinations
- empty shoebox
- He used an empty shoebox to store his tools.
- cardboard shoebox
- The children made a toy car from a cardboard shoebox.
- shoebox apartment
- They complained about their shoebox apartment.
- keep something in a shoebox
- She keeps her letters in a shoebox.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
Commonly confused: shoebox or shoe box or shoe box?
shoebox or shoe box vs shoe box
Same meaning; 'shoe box' is the two-word spelling, while 'shoebox' is the one-word spelling.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'shoebox' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A shoebox is a container for storage, so 'stored her photos in a shoebox' is correct. The other options treat it as something you wear or stand on, which is wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “shoebox or shoe box”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.