chocolate-box

American

[chaw-kuh-lit-boks, chok-uh-, chawk-lit-, chok-] / ˈtʃɔ kə lɪtˌbɒks, ˈtʃɒk ə-, ˈtʃɔk lɪt-, ˈtʃɒk- /

adjective

excessively decorative and sentimental, as the pictures or designs on some boxes of chocolate candy; prettified.

decorous, chocolate-box paintings of Victorian garden parties.

chocolate-box British

noun

informal (modifier) sentimentally pretty or appealing

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of chocolate-box

First recorded in 1890–95

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.

Be sure to end the meal with the banana pagoda, a playful dessert presented in a chocolate box that’s smashed tableside for a bit of theatrical flair.

From Salon • Mar. 7, 2026

Beside it, a repurposed chocolate box holds dozens more.

From BBC • Jan. 7, 2026

Check Felipe the frog, whose piano is constructed in part out of a chocolate box.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 14, 2024

After 10 days, everyone was asked to send a photo of their chocolate box.

From New York Times • Jan. 10, 2022

When he died, Pappachi left trunks full of expensive suits and a chocolate box full of cuff-links that Chacko distributed among the taxi drivers in Kottayam.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023