time stamp

noun

variants or timestamp

ˈtīm-ˌstamp 

plural time stamps or timestamps

1

: a stamping device used for recording the date and time of day on a document, envelope, etc. (as to indicate when it was received or sent out)

2

a

: an indication of the date and time stamped on a document, envelope, etc.

Problem was, a later check of the time stamp on the motion indicated that it had been filed nearly 40 minutes after Heinrich appeared before Wolf.

—Thanassis Cambanis

b

: an indication of the date and time recorded as part of a digital signal or file (such as an email, digital photograph, radio broadcast, or text message) indicating the time of creation, transmission, etc.

When you share that viral video, it carries a time stamp.

—Cosmopolitan

… highlighted a seeming discrepancy between the timestamps of the phone records and surveillance video, with the surveillance video suggesting the shooting happened a moment or two earlier than the phone records.

—Patrick Kernan

time-stamp

ˈtīm-ˌstamp 

transitive verb

time-stamped; time-stamping; time-stamps

The repository also contains time-stamped versions of your code …

—Jeff Jurvis

Examples of time stamp in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

So the second one has become kind of a time stamp. —Bryan West, USA Today, 1 Dec. 2025

Avery is very quickly excluded from the suspect pool thanks to the time stamp on a photo of her and her father enjoying dinner together on their own at a local diner. —Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2025

Three trays of hot dog buns were missing time stamps. —Sacbee.com, 19 Sep. 2025

Even if their browsing history is age-appropriate, check the time stamp on their texts and activities. —Michael Maguire, Boston Herald, 5 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1855, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for time stamp

• firedamp
• amp
• champ
• clamp
• cramp
• damp
• gamp
• lamp
• ramp
• samp
• scamp
• tamp