museum piece

American  

noun

1. something suitable for keeping and exhibiting in a museum.

2. something very old-fashioned or decrepit.

   That car he drives is a museum piece.

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museum piece British  

noun

1. an object of sufficient age or interest to be kept in a museum

2. informal a person or thing regarded as antiquated or decrepit

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museum piece Idioms  

1. An elderly or old-fashioned item or person, as in When are you going to sell that museum piece of a car? or Aunt Jane comes from another era—she's a real museum piece. This expression originated about 1900 for an article valuable enough for museum display but began to be used disparagingly from about 1915.

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Etymology

Origin of museum piece

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

"Even if you're not the age we are, we're like a museum piece," the actor added.

From Barron's • May 20, 2026

Seeing that one figure treated as a museum piece felt like a half-hearted wave to fans who grew up with Chuck.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 28, 2025

“He is not merely a museum piece, but a man,” one archaeologist told The Age in 1956.

From National Geographic • Feb. 6, 2024

For Glazer, it was about creating something “in present tense, not as a museum piece or something in aspic.”

From Seattle Times • May 20, 2023

The method of loci isn’t a museum piece on the personal level either.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith