archivist
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of archivist
From the French word archiviste, dating back to 1745–55. See archive, -ist
Explanation
Do you love collecting and organizing things? You might want to get a job as an archivist, someone who is in charge of cataloguing and maintaining historical documents. Archivists' work involves acquiring and caring for records, papers, books, and items with some kind of historical importance. A collection of these documents is known as an archive, and the place where they're kept is also an archive. Museum archivists carefully organize items, often writing descriptions of each piece and storing them protectively. Other archivists care for the collected writings — including drafts, letters, and diaries — of famous authors.
Vocabulary lists containing archivist
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 28–October 5, 2024
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The Sun Also Rises
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for December 15–December 21, 2024
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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 a statement, project archivist Siobhan McLaughlin said it would "unlock the hidden histories of Belfast's heritage in shipbuilding".
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
“Disney was a storyteller continually thinking outside the box,” says Paula Sigman-Lowery, former archivist for the Walt Disney Archives and consultant for the Walt Disney Family Museum.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 25, 2026
Historians are divided, with Athens' Benaki Museum's head archivist Tasos Sakellaropoulos calling the tomb a "place of silent collective memory and respect, not of pain or anger" in Kathimerini daily.
From Barron's • Oct. 23, 2025
Arrington was—was!—the director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Kansas, having been appointed to the job by the national archivist last year.
From Slate • Oct. 4, 2025
He was the archivist, and all the archives of the town were in his office.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
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.
