1
: a place in which public records or historical materials (such as documents) are preserved
an archive of historical manuscripts
a film archive
also
: the material preserved
—often used in plural
reading through the archives
2
: a repository or collection especially of information
archived; archiving
: to file or collect in or as if in an archive
archive documents
archived tissue samples
Examples of archive in a Sentence
Verb
The organization was devoted to cataloging and archiving printed materials on the labor movement.
She archived her e-mail messages in a folder on her hard drive.
a collection of archived articles
Recent Examples on the Web
Jamie Carter, Space.com, 27 Mar. 2026
The hacktivists have so far shared the data only with the nonprofit leak archive DDoSecrets, which the group says contains tips from February 1987 to November 2025, along with customer support requests and user accounts on P3’s servers.
—Alan Henry, PC Magazine, 27 Mar. 2026
Oriana Van Praag, New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2026
All Nicholl fellowship recipient scripts are archived in the Academy Collection and are accessible through the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library.
—Marcus Jones, IndieWire, 23 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for archive
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Noun
However, bright events often saturate detectors and are missed, so citizen reports to AMS often alert professionals and prompt manual archive checks.
—Jamie Carter, Space.com, 27 Mar. 2026
The hacktivists have so far shared the data only with the nonprofit leak archive DDoSecrets, which the group says contains tips from February 1987 to November 2025, along with customer support requests and user accounts on P3’s servers.
—Alan Henry, PC Magazine, 27 Mar. 2026
Verb
At least four similar apps were axed in the following days, including Eyes Up, a platform that archived videos of arrests, raids, and abuses by immigration agents.
—Oriana Van Praag, New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2026
All Nicholl fellowship recipient scripts are archived in the Academy Collection and are accessible through the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library.
—Marcus Jones, IndieWire, 23 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for archive
Cite this Entry
“Archive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archive. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
archive
1 of 2 noun
ar·chive
ˈär-ˌkīv 
1
: a place in which public records or historical documents are preserved
also
: the material preserved
—usually used in plural
2
: a collection of information
archive
2 of 2 verb
archived; archiving
: to file or collect in or as if in an archive
was archiving documents
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