archive

American  

[ahr-kahyv] / ˈɑr kaɪv /

noun

1. Usually archives. documents or records relating to the activities, business dealings, etc., of a person, family, corporation, association, community, or nation.

2. archives, a place where public records or other historical documents are kept.

3. any extensive record or collection of data.

   The encyclopedia is an archive of world history. The experience was sealed in the archive of her memory.

4. Digital Technology.

   1. a long-term storage device, as a disk or magnetic tape, or a computer directory or folder that contains copies of files for backup or future reference.

   2. a collection of digital data stored in this way.

   3. a computer file containing one or more compressed files.

   4. a collection of information permanently stored on the internet.

      The magazine has its entire archive online, from 1923 to the present.

---

verb (used with object)

archived, archiving

1. to place or store in an archive.

   to vote on archiving the city's historic documents.

2. Digital Technology. to compress (computer files) and store them in a single file.

archive British  

/ ˈɑːkaɪv /

noun

1. a collection of records of or about an institution, family, etc

2. a place where such records are kept

3. computing data transferred to a tape or disk for long-term storage rather than frequent use

---

verb

1. to store (documents, data, etc) in an archive or other repository

Other Word Forms

• archival adjective

Etymology

Origin of archive

First recorded in 1595–1605; originally, as plural, from French archives, from the Late Latin plural noun archīva, archīa “public records,” from Greek archeîa “public records,” plural of archeîon “town hall, public office,” equivalent to archḗ “magistracy, office” + -eion suffix of location

Example Sentences

Why do certain art forms enter the archive, while others disappear with the people who sustained them?

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

Grimes added citizen scientists in Plymouth and surrounding areas "can help overcome a key challenge in urban micrometeorite research, accessing multiple sample sites and processing material to build a national archive".

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

It was a slice of Apple history that he’d never seen—because it was from a different archive.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

An internal-use file mistakenly included in a software update pointed to an archive containing nearly 2,000 files and 500,000 lines of code, which were quickly copied to developer platform GitHub.

From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026

It appeared to contain an archive of the Oology Division’s status reports, intended for the Sixers’ top brass.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Related Words

• annals