repository

American  

[ri-poz-i-tawr-ee] / rɪˈpɒz ɪˌtɔr i /

noun

plural

repositories

1. a receptacle or place where things are deposited, stored, or offered for sale.

   a repository for discarded clothing.

   Synonyms:

   depository, storehouse, depot

2. an abundant source or supply; storehouse.

   a repository of information.

3. a person to whom something is entrusted or confided.

4. a burial place; sepulcher.

5. Informal, repo.  Computers. a collection of stored data or software, or the place where it is stored, often a proprietary site in the cloud.

   The company hosts a cloud-based repository to help software developers store, track, and manage changes to their code.

6. Chiefly British. warehouse.

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repository British  

/ rɪˈpɒzɪtərɪ, -trɪ /

noun

1. a place or container in which things can be stored for safety

2. a place where things are kept for exhibition; museum

3. a place where commodities are kept before being sold; warehouse

4. a place of burial; sepulchre

5. a receptacle containing the relics of the dead

6. a person to whom a secret is entrusted; confidant

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Etymology

Origin of repository

1475–85; < Latin repositōrium that in which anything is placed; see reposit, -tory ²

Explanation

Think of a repository as a storehouse, a place where things are kept until needed. A silo is a repository for animal feed, and a trivia buff's mind is a repository for useless information. The noun repository has a somewhat formal ring to it — why not just call a storehouse a storehouse, right? Think of a repository as somewhat more important and imposing than just a place to dump stuff. It has more of an air of authority, like the things stored there could change the world. Consider nuclear waste — would you rather store it in a dump or a repository? I don’t know about you, but I'd prefer the latter—sounds safer.

Example Sentences

It was merged into Bitcoin’s official improvement proposal repository in February, meaning it is now formally under consideration by the developer community but is still far from being implemented.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 31, 2026

You can find articles validating whatever you think in the online repository of human information on the internet that is readily available to anyone with a smart phone.

From Salon • Feb. 6, 2026

“Through the work of OHP, the Academy has also become the primary preservation repository for filmmaker interviews from the guilds and other sources,” notes the organization’s website.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 23, 2026

The retired investment banker lived most of his life in Hong Kong and was famous in the territory for the Webb-site, a comprehensive online repository for corporate records and miscellaneous government data.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 15, 2026

Imagine a huge galactic computer, a repository, more or less up-to-date, of information on the nature and activities of all the civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy, a great library of life in the Cosmos.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Related Words

• archive
• depository
• storehouse