time machine

noun

variants or less commonly time-machine

ˈtīm-mə-ˈshēn 

plural time machines also time-machines

: a hypothetical device that permits travel into the past or future

… if you sent an average-height man and woman from today in a time machine to the 1800s, they'd probably be the tallest people in the room.

—Tara Haelle

—sometimes used figuratively

London is a time-machine. As you walk through the city, you move through different eras: there is the house where Dickens lived, the hospital where Keats received his medical training, Shakespeare's theater.

—Theodora Goss

Examples of time machine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For a second, Adam felt like he had been taken in a time machine back to his college days. — Taylor Eldridge, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2026

Also, who has since won A lot has happened since live feeders last saw the 10 houseguests sitting at the dining room table time machine about to be transported back to the year 1,000 and participate in a medieval times twist. — Christopher Kuhagen, jsonline.com, 30 Aug. 2026

Corals are the time machines of the sea, said study lead author Julia Cole of the University of Michigan. — Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2026

Meriwether is also treating Spears’ music as a kind of time machine. — Spin Staff, SPIN, 24 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for time machine

• acetylene
• adamantine
• adenosine
• amphetamine
• anthropocene
• apoprotein
• aquamarine
• arsphenamine
• azobenzene
• buprenorphine
• catecholamine
• chlorobenzene

Kids Definition

time machine

noun

: a fictional machine that allows one to travel backward or forward in time