Album Meaning

UK /ˈæl.bəm/
US /ˈæl.bəm/
Word Definition
album meaning

Album Definition & Usage

noun

A collection of music recordings, typically in the form of a CD, vinyl record, or digital file, often featuring multiple tracks around a central theme or artistic concept.

Examples

  • "Her new album just dropped last week, and it's already topping the charts."
  • "They listened to the album from start to finish, not skipping a single track."
  • "I have all my favorite songs on a playlist, but I still love the experience of an album."
  • "The band's debut album was a huge success, launching their career worldwide."
  • "This album contains remixes of their biggest hits, along with a few new songs."
noun

A collection of photographs, drawings, or other visual media, often organized in a book or digital format, typically used for personal memories or artistic display.

Examples

  • "She made a photo album for her wedding day."
  • "His childhood album was filled with pictures of summer vacations."
  • "I created an album on my phone to save all the pictures from our trip to Paris."
  • "The artist's photo album featured images from their most famous exhibitions."
  • "They kept a scrapbook-style album for each of their children's milestones."
noun

A book or collection that holds and organizes various items such as stamps, postcards, or trading cards.

Examples

  • "He has an impressive stamp album that includes rare international stamps."
  • "She showed me her postcard album, with postcards from every country she had visited."
  • "His trading card album is meticulously organized by year and rarity."
  • "They keep a baseball card album, which is becoming more valuable over time."
  • "I inherited my grandfather's coin album, with coins from all over the world."

Cultural Context

The word 'album' has its roots in Latin, where it originally referred to a blank board or surface for writing, but evolved into a term for a collection of written or artistic works. The modern sense of the word, referring to collections of music, images, or other media, became prevalent in the early 20th century, especially with the rise of recorded music and photography.

The Album of Memories

Story

The Album of Memories

In a small, sunlit room, Mia sat by the window, flipping through an old photo album she had inherited from her grandmother. It was filled with black-and-white pictures, each one telling a story of another time—a time before smartphones and social media, when memories were preserved in photo albums instead of digital clouds. Mia smiled as she came across a picture of her grandparents on their wedding day, their faces bright with joy. 'I always loved looking through this album when I was a kid,' she thought, remembering how her grandmother had told her the stories behind each photograph. Later that afternoon, Mia’s younger brother Jake, an avid music fan, came over. He immediately noticed the photo album and asked, 'Are you still looking through that old thing?' 'It’s not just old,' Mia said, showing him a picture of their great-grandfather playing the piano. 'It’s a family history.' Jake smiled and grabbed his phone. 'Well, I’ve got my own album,' he said, tapping the screen. 'It’s a playlist of my favorite songs. The new album from that indie band I love just dropped, and I’m obsessed.' Mia laughed. 'It’s funny how we both have albums—yours is music, mine is photos.' As the conversation shifted to Jake’s latest music discovery, he began explaining how each track on the album seemed to tell a different part of the band's journey. Mia realized that the essence of an album—whether a collection of songs or a book of photographs—was the same: a curated collection of moments that, when put together, tell a story. 'You know,' Mia said thoughtfully, 'I think both of our albums do the same thing—they help us remember where we’ve been and who we are.' Jake nodded. 'Exactly. Whether it's songs or pictures, it’s all about preserving memories.' The two spent the rest of the afternoon comparing albums—one filled with old memories, and the other with new tunes—but in the end, they both agreed on one thing: albums, in whatever form, are a way of holding onto the moments that shape us.

The Album of Memories