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Showing results for on file. Search instead for on+file.
Synonyms

on file

Idioms  

  1. In or as if in a record for easy reference. For example, There's no job open right now, but we'll keep your résumé on file. The use of file in the sense of “a collection of papers stored for ready reference” dates from the early 1600s.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In the Texas Panhandle, Potter County elections officials quickly confirmed through DPS that three of nine voters on their list had proof of citizenship on file.

From Salon • Feb. 27, 2026

Wright was convicted after his DNA, on file from his Brook Hotel theft conviction, matched samples taken from the victims.

From BBC • Feb. 2, 2026

Companies such as travel-booking site Klook, crypto assets platform BitGo and construction equipment rental EquipmentShare are on file to go public and may hit markets next year, Bochanis said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 30, 2025

It’s their responsibility to keep those documents on file, but it was also your father-in-law’s responsibility to make sure his legal and financial documents were up to date and accessible.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 20, 2025

One of his last acts as president was to place on file in the State Department his rejoinder to Bache’s accusations, which historians have long since discovered were based on forged English documents.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.