archive

1 of 2

noun

ar·​chive ˈär-ˌkīv How to pronounce archive (audio)
1
: a place in which public records or historical materials (such as documents) are preserved
an archive of historical manuscripts
a film archive
also : the material preserved
often used in plural
reading through the archives
2
: a repository or collection especially of information

archive

2 of 2

verb

archived; archiving

transitive verb

: to file or collect in or as if in an archive
archive documents
archived tissue samples

Examples of archive in a Sentence

Verb The organization was devoted to cataloging and archiving printed materials on the labor movement. She archived her e-mail messages in a folder on her hard drive. a collection of archived articles
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Barbie: The World Tour will also include rare images from Mattel’s archives, designer sketches, Polaroid photos and more from Barbie’s whimsical world, all presented in collages by art director Fabien Baron. Danielle Directo-Meston, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2024 The claim: Biden admitted 'illegals' are killing Americans by the thousands in SOTU speech A March 7 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene interrupting President Joe Biden's State of the Union address. Andre Byik, USA TODAY, 9 Mar. 2024 Friday’s report reviewed claims of alien encounters dating back to the 1940s, researched classified and unclassified archives and conducted dozens of interviews. Dave Smith, Fortune, 8 Mar. 2024 There's also pay-per-view and premium live event archives as well as original content, including press conferences held after premium live events, WWE career retrospectives and vlogs from wrestlers. Michelle Chapman, Quartz, 8 Mar. 2024 The Instituto Campana, which the brothers founded to preserve their archives and legacy, is also located in Brotas. Pilar Viladas, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2024 For the new Shuttle series, CNN gained access to NASA’s archives, as well as findings from the government’s official investigation of the tragedy, in which seven astronauts were killed as Columbia disintegrated while re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Brian Steinberg, Variety, 7 Mar. 2024 After his death in 2014, an unfinished work — consisting of up to five drafts that the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature was working on during the last years of his life — remained in storage at his personal archive at the University of Texas. Pau Mosquera and Oscar Holland, CNN, 7 Mar. 2024 The roller coaster’s open-air, stadium-style seating on the trains mirrored Dale Earnhardt’s 1998 RCR No. 3 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, according to Observer archives. Catherine Muccigrosso, Charlotte Observer, 1 Mar. 2024
Verb
In a world where millions of us over-share and the content we over-share is stored, reviewed by humans and archived for months or even years, something is going to break. Zak Doffman, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024 Loy said among local governments, the city of San Diego does a good job of archiving thousands of records requests on its system. Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Feb. 2024 Shortly after noon, first responders received the call in the area of the 100 block of North University Drive, near Mission Lakes Apartments, according to radio transmissions archived by the streaming site Broadcastify. Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 8 Jan. 2024 The Twitch channel has since been removed, but Talia Jane, an independent reporter who received a link to the video earlier Sunday, archived the video and shared it with CBS News. Jordan Freiman, CBS News, 25 Feb. 2024 The findings will be archived at the Museum of Zoology at the University of Costa Rica. Emilee Coblentz, USA TODAY, 18 Jan. 2024 The event will be archived and available for replay on the Company's website. Miami Herald, 5 Feb. 2024 Firefighters were working on the second floor of the home, and by about 3 p.m. were extinguishing hotspots within the home after the smoke had largely subsided by then, according to radio communications archived by the streaming website Broadcastify. Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 3 Jan. 2024 The comment also claimed that the singer archived her Solar Power cover art from her feed and changed her profile pic. Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 18 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'archive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

French & Latin; French, from Latin archivum, from Greek archeion government house (in plural, official documents), from archē rule, government — more at arch-

First Known Use

Noun

1603, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1831, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of archive was in 1603

Dictionary Entries Near archive

Cite this Entry

“Archive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archive. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

archive

1 of 2 noun
ar·​chive ˈär-ˌkīv How to pronounce archive (audio)
1
: a place in which public records or historical documents are preserved
also : the material preserved
usually used in plural
2
: a collection of information

archive

2 of 2 verb
archived; archiving
: to file or collect in or as if in an archive
was archiving documents

More from Merriam-Webster on archive

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