archive

noun ar·chive \ ˈär-ˌkīv \

Definition of archive

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

See archive defined for English-language learners

See archive defined for kids

Recent Examples of archive from the Web

Records to be retained in the state archives also are not limited by any medium, according to the state’s public records law that was updated in 2015.

— matt volz, The Seattle Times, "Text messages as public records emerges as new Montana issue," 29 Aug. 2017
Records to be retained in the state archives also are not limited by any medium, according to the state’s public records law that was updated in 2015.

— Washington Post, "Text messages as public records emerges as new Montana issue," 29 Aug. 2017
Staff writer Jeff Caplan contributed to this report, which contains information from Star-Telegram archives.

— domingo ramirez jr., star-telegram, "Grand jury declines to indict man in fatal shooting over door ding in Bedford," 15 Aug. 2017
But because Maester Luwin kept everything, the letter was just sitting there in his archives, waiting to be deployed for nefarious purposes.

— eliza thompson, Cosmopolitan, "What That Letter Arya Found in Littlefinger's Room Really Means," 14 Aug. 2017
From the archives: As gun toll rises, city VIPs raise money for NRA Williams and Brown both acknowledged that, at this point, the memo of agreement is non-binding and that the convention's return is considered tentative until a contract is signed.

— sheldon s. shafer, The Courier-Journal, "NRA bringing its guns, money back to Louisville for 2022 parley," 31 July 2017
The funding will be used to hire student interns, as well as purchase equipment needed to digitize the Barker Mansion archives.

— Post-Tribune, "Community news," 24 July 2017
One of these, the Ref.5522A, is a limited edition stainless steel pilot watch inspired by two originals found in the Patek archives, one of which will be on display here in New York.

— stephen watson, Esquire, "Patek Philippe Just Opened a Mind-Blowing Temporary Museum," 14 July 2017
Teams and players referenced from Baseball-Almanac.com, Baseball-Reference.com, ModernBaseball.com, TheBaseballCube.com and Miami Herald archives.

— george richards, miamiherald, "Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige and A-Rod part of Miami’s long and storied baseball history," 5 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'archive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of archive

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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1603

See Words from the same year

archive Synonyms

Synonyms

library

Related Words

rental library (or lending library); bibliotheca; stacks

archive

verb

Definition of archive

archived; archiving

transitive verb

:to file or collect in or as if in an archive

archive documents

archived tissue samples

See archive defined for English-language learners

Examples of archive in a Sentence

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