museum piece

noun

1
: something preserved in or suitable for a museum
2
: one that is out-of-date : a thing of the past

Examples of museum piece in a Sentence

That old computer will soon be a museum piece. that old wooden ironing board she uses is a museum piece
Recent Examples on the Web The advisor will work with V&A’s curators who oversee well over 2.8 million exhibits and museum pieces. Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 7 Mar. 2024 To accurately make Mollie’s shirts, West studied photos of the real sisters, museum pieces and Osage family heirlooms that were on loan. Fawnia Soo Hoo, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2023 Aviation history is filled with jaw-dropping machines like the Concorde, the supersonic airliner that promised to shrink the globe, but wound up as a museum piece after around a quarter-century. Marc Wortman, Rolling Stone, 25 Dec. 2023 The chances that anyone will buy both and turn these museum pieces into daily drivers, or even weekend cruisers, seems low. Michael Van Runkle, Robb Report, 3 Nov. 2023 Masterpieces weren’t meant to be resurrected as museum pieces but boldly reexamined and understood afresh. Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 8 Nov. 2023 The relationship between the viewer and the museum piece gets all scrambled when the viewer has stood still, so to speak. Vulture, 26 Sep. 2023 Many of his country’s war planes are museum pieces — old Soviet models provided by Moscow during the 1950-53 Korean War. Paul Sonne, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2023 The idea is to wear and use — and therefore love — your things, rather than treating them like museum pieces. Rachel Tashjian, Washington Post, 24 Aug. 2023

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

Word History

First Known Use

1898, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of museum piece was in 1898

Dictionary Entries Near museum piece

Cite this Entry

“Museum piece.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/museum%20piece. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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