time capsule

noun

1

: a container holding historical records or objects representative of current culture that is deposited (as in a cornerstone) for preservation until discovery by some future age

2

: something resembling a time capsule

Sunken vessels are archaeological time capsules.

—Philip Trupp

Examples of time capsule in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In a breakthrough that turns routine radiation monitoring into a biodiversity time capsule, researchers have extracted decades of airborne DNA from old air filters to reconstruct how ecosystems have changed over time. —Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 18 Dec. 2025

Best Hotels & Resorts Sina Brufani The city’s grand dame, Sina Brufani, was established in 1884, and staying there feels like stepping into a time capsule. —Laura Itzkowitz, Travel + Leisure, 16 Dec. 2025

Three Brothers is a time capsule of Old World charm with heaps of comfort to spare. —Mary Lebus, Cincinnati Enquirer, 15 Dec. 2025

Facing the death of his country’s glaciers and the loss of his beloved grandparents, Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason turns his archives into a time capsule to hold what is slipping away — family, memory, time, and water. —Peter Debruge, Variety, 10 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

time capsule

noun

: a container holding historical records or objects representative of current culture that is placed (as in a cornerstone) for preservation until discovery by some future age