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
New York Times Games, New York Times, 26 July 2025
The Arizona Republic's extensive photo archives highlight the humble beginnings of metro Phoenix and document the incredible growth and change that have occurred since then.
—Shelby Slade, AZCentral.com, 25 July 2025
Clyde Wayne Crews Jr, Forbes.com, 14 July 2025
Uddin recommended archiving any data older than five years to reduce server load, as well as enhancing server capacity based on the number of active users.
—Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 14 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for archive
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Noun
Further Reading See the archive for past and future posts.
—New York Times Games, New York Times, 26 July 2025
The Arizona Republic's extensive photo archives highlight the humble beginnings of metro Phoenix and document the incredible growth and change that have occurred since then.
—Shelby Slade, AZCentral.com, 25 July 2025
Verb
But the 3,000 notice-and-comment rules chronicled there every year and archived in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) comprise a fragment of the regulatory universe.
—Clyde Wayne Crews Jr, Forbes.com, 14 July 2025
Uddin recommended archiving any data older than five years to reduce server load, as well as enhancing server capacity based on the number of active users.
—Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 14 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for archive
Cite this Entry
“Archive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archive. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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: a place in which public records or historical documents are preserved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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