MEANING
Relating to preserved records or documents kept for later reference.
Use it for
identifying research based on preserved records; distinguishing documentary sources from newly collected interviews; evaluating how preservation shapes the available evidenceIdentifies preserved records as a source, not automatically an unbiased or complete one. Academic functions: Research / Methodology, Evidence.
Words that belong together
- archival research
- archival evidence
- archival records
On the page
Archival evidence reveals the institution’s formal decisions more clearly than its members’ private motives.
Gaps in the surviving archival records limit reconstruction of the earlier negotiations.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- archival
Usage notes
Normally before a noun; also predicative. Usually non-gradable when naming a source type. No ordinary -er/-est forms. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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