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 Atlas, 7 June 2025
Take a look at photos from The Star’s archive to see how in the 50 years since that first march, the Pride parade and festival in Kansas City has grown to be one of the largest annual events in the city.
—Monty Davis, Kansas City Star, 5 June 2025
Virgie Tovar, Forbes.com, 22 May 2025
The YouTube videos are not a complete replacement because some of Trump’s remarks are not archived in video form, either.
—Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 22 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for archive
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Noun
Airstream Stepping into the central functional heart of the trailer, the kitchen looks fairly simple and classic but is said to be inspired by a 1939 mobile kitchen concept Wright never completed, pulled from the Foundation's archives.
—New Atlas, 7 June 2025
Take a look at photos from The Star’s archive to see how in the 50 years since that first march, the Pride parade and festival in Kansas City has grown to be one of the largest annual events in the city.
—Monty Davis, Kansas City Star, 5 June 2025
Verb
The presentation video and measurement data is now archived in FIT’s institutional repository where researchers, faculty, students, and fashion industry professionals will have access to it.
—Virgie Tovar, Forbes.com, 22 May 2025
The YouTube videos are not a complete replacement because some of Trump’s remarks are not archived in video form, either.
—Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 22 May 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 15 Jun. 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: a place in which public records or historical documents are preserved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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