What does repository mean?
Word: Repository
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Repository means a place where a large amount of something is kept safely, or a person or book full of knowledge.
Synonyms: store
How do you spell repository?
Syllables: re - pos - i - to - ry
Tricky part: The ending sounds as if it could be ary or ery, which is why so many students slip here. Only ory is right.
Watch out for: repositary, repositery
Memory tip: Libraries keep stories, and a library is one kind of this place, so end the word with the same tory as story.
Repository in a sentence
Example 1: The university's digital repository holds thousands of old newspapers.
Example 2: Our school library is a repository of local history.
Example 3: The cool cellar served as a repository for the farm's potatoes.
Fun Fact
Software developers keep their code in a repository and usually shorten the word to repo, so it is now as common among programmers as among librarians.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word repository as used in the sentence:
My grandmother is a living repository of old Konkani songs.
a) critic
b) beginner
c) storehouse
d) visitor
Show answer
c) storehouse. She holds a great many songs, just as a storehouse holds goods.
Mingle-Mangle
Which word do the jumbled letters in the sentence spell?
This small hill town has a tpyreosoir of old Garhwali folk tales.
a) repository
b) depositor
c) repertoire
d) reservoir
Show answer
a) repository. A d rules out depositor, and repertoire and reservoir would leave the y unused.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The state museum in Thanjavur has built a new reposatory where palm-leaf manuscripts, old maps and rare photographs are kept in cool, dry rooms for visiting scholars.
a) scholars
b) photographs
c) manuscripts
d) reposatory
Show answer
d) reposatory. The middle matches deposit, with an i after the s.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is misspelt. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. archeive 2. catalogue 3. repository 4. manuscript
a) a collection of old records, or the place holding them
b) a full list of items, often with details
c) a spot where things are gathered in large numbers
d) a book or paper written by hand
Show answer
a) a collection of old records, or the place holding them. Archive has no e after its h, so that word is the one misspelt here.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Mr Iyer remembers every match played in his town since 1970. Why might neighbours call him a repository?
a) He plays in every match that is held.
b) He holds facts others can come and ask for.
c) He sells old cricket bats to the visitors.
d) He keeps the town's playground clean.
Show answer
b) He holds facts others can come and ask for.
2. What could fairly be called a repository?
a) a bell rung at the end of class
b) a seed bank holding samples of rice
c) a path leading up the hill
d) a bridge across a wide river
Show answer
b) a seed bank holding samples of rice
