time machine

noun

variants or less commonly time-machine

ˈtīm-mə-ˈshēn 

plural time machines also time-machines

: a hypothetical device that permits travel into the past or future

… if you sent an average-height man and woman from today in a time machine to the 1800s, they'd probably be the tallest people in the room.

—Tara Haelle

—sometimes used figuratively

London is a time-machine. As you walk through the city, you move through different eras: there is the house where Dickens lived, the hospital where Keats received his medical training, Shakespeare's theater.

—Theodora Goss

Examples of time machine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Scientists have taken advantage of this DNA time machine for one of the world's most endangered marine animals, revealing a story that can't be told by population counts alone. — Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026

Watching the first episode of Ultimate Girl’s Trip is like riding in a malfunctioning time machine. — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026

Things kick off when Stewie discovers Brian has been using a time machine as a way to impress women from the bar for hookups. — Chris Snellgrove, Entertainment Weekly, 25 July 2026

Her carousel post on Instagram highlighted photos from the event, which included a giant inflatable bouncy slide, a cake made to reference the film, and Spencer climbing into a DMC DeLorean sports car resembling the time machine. — Brianna Zigler, InStyle, 25 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for time machine

• acetylene
• adamantine
• adenosine
• amphetamine
• anthropocene
• apoprotein
• aquamarine
• arsphenamine
• azobenzene
• buprenorphine
• catecholamine
• chlorobenzene

Kids Definition

time machine

noun

: a fictional machine that allows one to travel backward or forward in time