noun
sandbox
SAND-boks
noun
1
A shallow box filled with sand for children to play in.
"The toddlers dug happily in the sandbox all afternoon."
2
An isolated environment where software can run safely without affecting the rest of the system.
"The suspicious file was opened in a sandbox to check it for malware."
verb
1
To restrict a program so that it can only run within a limited, isolated environment.
"The browser sandboxes each tab so a crash in one won't affect the others."
How to Use Sandbox
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA children's sand-filled play box — or, in tech, a safely isolated space for testing software.
Common pairings
sandbox environment
run in a sandbox
Word Forms
sandboxed past tense, sandboxes plural, sandboxes singular
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The toddlers dug happily in the _____ all afternoon.
Etymology
A compound of "sand" and "box" — the computing sense is a metaphor from the child's play area.