time machine
noun
variants
or less commonly time-machine
plural time machines also time-machines
: a hypothetical device that permits travel into the past or future
… if you sent an average-height man and woman from today in a time machine to the 1800s, they'd probably be the tallest people in the room.—Tara Haelle
—sometimes used figurativelyLondon is a time-machine. As you walk through the city, you move through different eras: there is the house where Dickens lived, the hospital where Keats received his medical training, Shakespeare's theater.—Theodora Goss
Cite this Entry
“Time machine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/time%20machine. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.
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