out of the box

• out-of-the-box (especially in attributive use)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /æɔt əv ðə bɒks/, /æʊt əv ðə bɒks/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ʌʊt əv ðə bɑːks/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /aʊt əv ðə bɒks/
  • (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ɘʉt əv ðə bɒks/
• (US) IPA^(key): /aʊt əv ðə bɑːks/
• Rhymes: -ɒks

out of the box

1. (of a product) Immediately, without intervention from the customer.

   Synonym: off the shelf

   This software has to work out of the box, without any fancy installation.

   • 2019 November 6, “Industry Insider: Blame the policymakers”, in Rail, page 76:

     As well as trade union opposition when the new Class 195s arrived, they could not work 'out of the box' due to gauge clearance issues.

2. (figurative) Outside the box; unconventionally: outside the limits of conventional thinking.

   Synonyms: laterally, outside the box, outside of the box, OOTB

   • 2004, Deborrah Himsel, Leadership Sopranos Style: How to Become a More Effective Boss, Kaplan Publishing, →ISBN, page 135:

     He started out with the rather obvious alternative of talking to Junior; Hesh’s scheme was more imaginative; and Tony’s idea of torching the restaurant really is out of the box.

   • 2005, John Campbell Self, Faeries’ Dance, Cupid’s Dream, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 16:

     Mom and dad didn’t have a ready answer to Mort’s out of the box idea, but Mickey did.

   • 2007, Allan Wolf, Zane's Trace, Candlewick Press, →ISBN, page 63:

     She: You’re not trying to think out of the box!

   • 2025 May 16, Hamed Aleaziz, quoting Tricia McLaughlin, “A Reality Show Where Immigrants Compete for U.S. Citizenship? D.H.S. Is Considering It.”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     She said the agency was happy to review “out-of-the-box pitches,” particularly those that celebrate “what it means to be an American.”

     (Can we archive this URL?)

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: See out of, the, box.

• In the sense "unconventionally", outside the box is more frequently used, more than three to one in the US, perhaps to avoid confusion with the other sense of "out of the box". Also used is "outside of the box".

• out-of-box experience

• knock out of the box

• “out of the box”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.