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
archived; archiving
: 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
Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 14 Mar. 2026
Spanning nearly two decades, the film draws on an extensive archive of personal material filmed across Syria, Denmark, Lebanon and Greece.
—Lise Pedersen, Variety, 13 Mar. 2026
Whitney Friedlander, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2026
The imagery is consistent with photos of Tomahawk missile parts recovered from past conflicts which were archived on weapon fragment database the Open Source Munitions Portal.
—Gianluca Mezzofiore, CNN Money, 10 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for archive
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Noun
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
—Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 14 Mar. 2026
Spanning nearly two decades, the film draws on an extensive archive of personal material filmed across Syria, Denmark, Lebanon and Greece.
—Lise Pedersen, Variety, 13 Mar. 2026
Verb
Oppenheimer relied on past news stories about Blume, as well as a collection of her work and professional correspondences that are archived at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and, probably most informatively, his own interviews with Blume and her friends and family.
—Whitney Friedlander, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2026
The imagery is consistent with photos of Tomahawk missile parts recovered from past conflicts which were archived on weapon fragment database the Open Source Munitions Portal.
—Gianluca Mezzofiore, CNN Money, 10 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for archive
Cite this Entry
“Archive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archive. Accessed 17 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
archive
1 of 2 noun
ar·chive
ˈär-ˌkīv 
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: a place in which public records or historical documents are preserved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
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