called also cache memory
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Cash and Cache
Cache and cash are homophones (words that are pronounced alike but have different meanings, origins, or spelling) whose likeness in sound may lead to perplexity.
Cache primarily refers to a thing that is hidden or stored somewhere, or to the place where it is hidden. It has recently taken on another common meaning, “short-term computer memory where information is stored for easy retrieval.” Cash, on the other hand, is most often used in the sense “ready money.”
If you find yourself confused by these words, remember that you can store cash in a cache, but you can't do the reverse. Be mindful, too, that if you run out of cash you won't be able to buy something, but if you're short on cache, your computer won’t work.
Synonyms
Examples of cache in a Sentence
Tristan Lavalette, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2023
Although this strategy leaves more caches for pilferers to find, each cache’s smaller size eliminates the risk that the squirrels will lose their entire stash in one go.
—Emma Bryce, Scientific American, 20 Nov. 2023
Israel has responded with retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah cells, outposts, and weapons caches.
—Neri Zilber, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 Nov. 2023
This will not be a simple undertaking, especially given the terrorist group’s cowardly practice of hiding behind Palestinian human shields by tucking its offices, and even its arms caches and rocket launchers, into places that are particularly dense with civilians.
—Ami Ayalon, Foreign Affairs, 31 Oct. 2023
Even for those of us with a skeptical disposition, the cache of symbols, metaphors, narratives, and characters which demonology offers remains some of the most powerful ways of discussing subjects ranging from why evil exists to how justice should be realized.
—TIME, 28 Oct. 2023
This underworld of passageways, arms caches and escape routes beneath Gaza may prove even more terrifying now.
—Ilan Ben Zion, Washington Post, 3 Nov. 2023
That band’s biggest hits have endured, while Gwen Stefani still has plenty of cultural cache thanks to The Voice and her solo career.
—Josh Glicksman, Billboard, 31 Oct. 2023
Martian visits confirmed the origin of mystery meteorites on Earth
Among the thousands of meteorites in the scientific cache on Earth, a tiny fraction of them stand out from the crowd.
—Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Oct. 2023
Chris Impey, Discover Magazine, 27 Oct. 2023
And because cloud gaming is a real-time activity that requires minimal latency, Stadia cannot rely on common techniques such as offline encoding of video files, caching video content in advance along the network path, or taking advantage of video client buffers to smooth out network glitches.
—IEEE Spectrum, 22 July 2019
No, wolves do not cache their kills like mountain lions do.
—Katie Hill, Outdoor Life, 23 Aug. 2023
Apart from that, technology solutions such as server-side rendering, caching, lightweight frameworks and pruning plugins will go a long way.
—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2023
Jays are said to cache a kabillion nuts, give or take, every winter, and unerringly remember the location of each one.
—Murr Brewster, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Apr. 2023
In both incidents, officials caught Rae collecting and caching elk antlers inside Bridger-Teton National Forest boundaries during a closed season.
—Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 24 Apr. 2023
Leverage Caching One of the most effective ways to speed up a website is by leveraging caching.
—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2023
To continue their research into robot deception, Arkin and his team were inspired by the food caching behaviors of squirrels.
—IEEE Spectrum, 3 Dec. 2012
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cache.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Noun
borrowed from North American French, from French, "hiding place," noun derivative of cacher "to hide, conceal," going back to Old French cachier, quaichier "to put away, lock up, cover, remove from view, conceal" (also Middle French cacher "to press, crush"), going back to Vulgar Latin *coācticāre "to press, constrict," from Latin coāctāre "to compel" (frequentative of cōgere "to drive together, collect, compress, compel") + -icāre, verb formative — more at cogent
Note: The etymological sense "to compress, constrict" is not attested for the Old French verb, though it likely existed and is apparent in the prefixed form escachier "to crush and flatten, break by pressing or falling on." From the sense "compress" presumably developed the senses "lock up, cover, put away," and hence "remove from view, conceal," common from the sixteenth century. The sense "to press, crush" is marginally evident in Middle French in areas in contact with Occitan, though it penetrated widely enough to form the basis for the derivative cachet "seal" (see cachet).
Verb
verbal derivative of cache entry 1
Dictionary Entries Near cache
Cite this Entry
“Cache.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cache. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
cache
1 of 2 nouncache
2 of 2 verb
More from Merriam-Webster on cache
Nglish: Translation of cache for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of cache for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about cache
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