repository

1 of 2

noun

re·​pos·​i·​to·​ry ri-ˈpä-zə-ˌtȯr-ē 

plural repositories

1

: a place, room, or container where something is deposited or stored : depository

2

: a side altar in a Roman Catholic church where the consecrated Host is reserved from Maundy Thursday until Good Friday

3

: one that contains or stores something nonmaterial

considered the book a repository of knowledge

4

: a place or region richly supplied with a natural resource

5

: a person to whom something is confided or entrusted

repository

2 of 2

adjective

of a drug

: designed to act over a prolonged period

repository penicillin

Synonyms of repository

Noun

• warehouse
• depository
• storage

Examples of repository in a Sentence

Noun

a repository for nuclear waste

He is the repository of many secrets.

She is the repository of her family's history.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Many auto parts places will pour the contents into their giant waste-oil repositories, then give you back your bucket. —Andrew P. Collins, The Drive, 11 Mar. 2026

America’s strategic petroleum reserves, or SPR, is a prodigious repository of crude oil meant to offset global supply crises like the one unleashed by the Iran conflict. —Dallas Morning News, 9 Mar. 2026

Fees run high, too, because the investor is paying a premium for the safe storage of their gold in a repository. —Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 8 Mar. 2026

But if access can be secured and the computational infrastructure scaled to match, such efforts could transform natural history museums from static repositories into dynamic digital biomes. —IEEE Spectrum, 5 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1948, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for repository

• accusatory
• admonitory
• ambulatory
• amendatory
• celebratory
• circulatory
• combinatory
• commendatory
• compensatory
• condemnatory
• confirmatory
• confiscatory

Kids Definition

repository

noun

re·​pos·​i·​to·​ry

ri-ˈpäz-ə-ˌtōr-ē, 

-ˌtȯr-

plural repositories

1

: a place or container where something is deposited or stored

2

: one that contains or stores something immaterial

a repository of knowledge

Medical Definition

repository

adjective

re·​pos·​i·​to·​ry ri-ˈpäz-ə-ˌtōr-ē 

of a drug

: designed to act over a prolonged period

repository penicillin