time capsule

noun

Definition of time capsule

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

The depths of the Internet serve as a rare trove of imagery, too: Some of Sehnert’s sources are a bit of a time capsule, such as WordPress blogs dedicated to Bessette-Kennedy that haven’t been updated in more than a decade. — Liana Satenstein, Vogue, "For Rare Images of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Follow This Tribute Instagram," 26 Dec. 2018 For scientists piecing together the story of South Africa’s ancient environments and evolution, these caves act as time capsules. — Lydia Pyne, Ars Technica, "Rising Star found a new species—now it wants to find a new way for paleoanthropology," 20 Dec. 2018 My feeling is sit back and enjoy them like time capsules. — Fox News, "Laura Ingraham: Resisting for all the wrong reasons," 3 Aug. 2018 This special serves as a time capsule for a tragic time in America, when commercial entertainment attempted to soothe the public. — Liz Arcury, Marie Claire, "The 8 Best Celebrity Holiday Specials Ever," 29 Nov. 2018 Mars is much less geologically active than Earth, and so its interior is closer to being in its original state — a tantalizing time capsule. — Marcia Dunn, The Seattle Times, "Mars revisited: NASA spacecraft days away from risky landing," 21 Nov. 2018 That’s the main reason Dawn went to the Asteroid Belt in the first place: Ceres and Vesta are like time capsules from the early solar system, and studying them can tell us a great deal about what that era was like. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "NASA's Asteroid Belt Spacecraft Dawn Is About To Run Out of Fuel," 11 Sep. 2018 In fact, the vast majority of houses fall somewhere in the middle, neither pristine time capsules nor unlivable wrecks. — Kate Wagner, Curbed, "To renovate or not to renovate?," 5 Sep. 2018 The film is absolutely a time capsule, and there’s a lot to unpack (good and bad). — Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge, "New trailers: Christopher Robin, Goosebumps 2, and more," 14 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'time capsule.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

7 Jan 2019

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The first known use of time capsule was in 1938

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More Definitions for time capsule

time capsule

noun

English Language Learners Definition of time capsule

: a container that is filled with things (such as newspapers or clothing) from the present time and that is meant to be opened by people at some time in the future

See the full definition for time capsule in the English Language Learners Dictionary

time capsule

noun