sandbox

noun

sand·​box ˈsan(d)-ˌbäks 

plural sandboxes

1

: a box or receptacle containing loose sand

especially : a box that contains sand for children to play in

2

: a place, area, or environment that provides opportunities for variation and experimentation in a way suggestive of children playing in a sandbox

The Suttle Lodge is not a full-service hotel. Instead, it is better thought of as a sandbox: it provides all the amenities for you to create your own ideal experience.

—Lance Richardson

: such as

a

: a video game or part of a video game in which the player is not constrained to achieving specific goals and has a large degree of freedom to explore, interact with, or modify the game environment : open world

… Untitled Goose Game is a sandbox in which objectives sometimes feel more like suggestions. I still want to get back in there and just mess with people more—see what happens when I get certain characters to chase me into certain areas, or if others will react to particular items.

—Nathan Grayson

—often used before another noun

a sandbox game

Video games played in sandbox mode, or purpose-built sandbox games, allow the player access to the whole world (the box) at once, and allow her to change that world at will (the sand). There is no preset narrative to force the player to run, hide, or shoot, and no marauders to destroy what she has built.

—Alexandra Lange

b

: an isolated environment on an electronic device (such as a computer) within which applications cannot affect other programs or data on the device

Software development often occurs inside a sandbox, defined as a confined virtual environment in which one or several developers can freely and safely experiment with untested code and new technologies.

—Janine Gianfredi

Businesses should add an application to their email systems that tags all emails containing a link or attachment. If an employee clicks on the link or attachment, the application launches it in a safe digital environment, called a sandbox, preventing any malicious application from infecting the employee's device or any others connected to it.

—Cameron G. Shilling

c

business : a controlled environment supervised by a regulatory authority within which existing regulations are relaxed or removed to allow businesses to more freely experiment with new products and services

The sandbox enables the development of telemedicine services with close monitoring of all aspects of safety, including clinical processes, medication delivery and data protection, while co-creating the appropriate regulations.

—Raymond Chua

Other efforts of Carolina Fintech Hub include finding ways to leverage the local supplies of venture capital and corporate capital to help good ideas grow. The organization is working with the North Carolina General Assembly members to bring forth a first-of-its-kind fintech sandbox, which would create a business-friendly environment for fintech startup activity.

—Charlotte (North Carolina) Business Journal

Examples of sandbox in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

To these ends, the office seeks to work with providers of cloud services to create sandboxes for testing, with two cloud services opening up in January and another two in the summer. —Brad Dress, The Hill, 11 Dec. 2024

This brings a security sandbox to the Gmail party for secure scanning of malicious software hiding in attachments, and enhanced safe browsing for further protection by scanning incoming messages for malicious content before it’s delivered. —Davey Winder, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2024

So, the show will end our love for The Karate Kid, but our desire to play in The Karate Kid sandbox doesn’t end. —Demetrius Patterson, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Nov. 2024

As this era of IP shows no sign of abating, this feels like a best-case scenario: a filmmaker finding genuine joy and inspiration playing in a franchise sandbox, and digging up something truly unsettling in the process. —Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 15 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1572, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

sandbox

noun

sand·​box -ˌbäks 

: a box for holding sand especially for children to play in