carton
Americannoun
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cartons
plural
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a cardboard or plastic box used typically for storage or shipping.
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the amount a carton can hold.
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the contents of a carton.
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a cardboardlike substance consisting of chewed plant material often mixed with soil, made by certain insects for building nests.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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a cardboard box for containing goods
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a container of waxed paper or plastic in which liquids, such as milk, are sold
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shooting
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a white disc at the centre of a target
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a shot that hits this disc
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verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of carton
1780–90; < French < Italian cartone pasteboard; see cartoon
Explanation
A carton is a cardboard box or package. A pint of cream often comes in a carton. There are many different kinds of cartons, but most of them are packaging for some kind of consumer product, particularly food. There are egg cartons, milk cartons, and cigarette cartons, all of which are different shapes and made out of slightly different types of paperboard or lightweight cardboard. Carton has its root in the Medieval Latin word carta, "paper."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She includes any information-seeking act, from a verbal interrogative to the sniff one might give a carton of milk to gauge its freshness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Sipping a juice out of a carton -- his one indulgence for the game -- he came to the cafe after spending 20 hours without power at home.
From Barron's ● Jun. 14, 2026
The list price rose 5% to $4,193 for a carton, or one month’s supply.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
The company decision means the number of Californians with access to beverage carton recycling falls below the threshold in the state’s “Truth in Recycling” law, or Senate Bill 343.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025
He opened the door and a storage carton fell out.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
Patz was the first missing child to be featured on milk cartons as part of a nationwide search.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
Influencers in cowboy hats chugged cartons of milk.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
The plant makes tissues, printer paper, cups, plates, cartons, and other goods, according to CBS, the BBC's US partner.
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
Deborah Oyaleke was sent into a large freezer room to verify cartons of frozen fish.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
The white lunch lady with her hair in a net has a huge gap-toothed smile as she piles sloppy joes and too-cheesy slices of pizza onto plates, along with cartons of milk and browning bananas.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
