Shadow education stands for those activities which are designed to improve students’ academic learning in examinable subjects taught in a formal school. This paper looks at the historical development of the term, and how it has been defined differently by different researchers. The paper challenges different definitions and conceptualizations about shadow education and try to stimulate further inquiry about it. It points out some flaws in those definitions and why they need to be modified with the changing time and expanding boundaries of the field. Furthermore, it looks at different terms which are frequently used interchangeably for shadow education and their appropriateness. Using different elements of those definitions, the paper comes up with a definition and subcategories of shadow education which may reduce some of the confusions arising from existing definitions and parameters.