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Synonyms

historical

American  
[hi-stawr-i-kuhl, -stor-] / hɪˈstɔr ɪ kəl, -ˈstɒr- /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events.

    historical records;

    historical research.

  2. based on or reconstructed from an event, custom, style, etc., in the past.

    a historical reenactment of the battle of Gettysburg.

  3. having once existed or lived in the real world, as opposed to being part of legend or fiction or as distinguished from religious belief.

    Scholars doubt that a historical Camelot ever existed.

    Her thesis was an overview of how theologians have studied the historical Jesus.

    Synonyms:
    factual, authentic
  4. narrated or mentioned in history; belonging to the past.

    He cited several historical examples of international conflict resolution.

  5. relating to or involving analysis based on a comparison among several periods of development of a phenomenon, as in language or economics.

    She taught a course in historical linguistics.

  6. historic.


historical British  
/ hɪˈstɒrɪkəl /

adjective

  1. belonging to or typical of the study of history

    historical methods

  2. concerned with or treating of events of the past

    historical accounts

  3. based on or constituting factual material as distinct from legend or supposition

  4. based on or inspired by history

    a historical novel

  5. occurring or prominent in history

  6. a less common word for historic

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • antihistorical adjective
  • antihistoricalness noun
  • historically adverb
  • historicalness noun
  • nonhistorical adjective
  • nonhistoricalness noun
  • pseudohistorical adjective
  • quasi-historical adjective
  • semihistorical adjective
  • superhistorical adjective
  • unhistorical adjective

Etymology

Origin of historical

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin historic(us) historic ( def. ) + -al 1 ( def. )

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.

While overall delinquency rates remain low by historical standards, Federal Housing Authority and Veterans Affairs home loans are seeing higher delinquency rates than conventional loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

From MarketWatch

Crude prices are far below their 2022 peaks and within historical norms.

From The Wall Street Journal

What it means is that prices have rallied at a much faster pace than historical norms, which can make buyers nervous that a pullback is needed to allow bulls to catch their breath.

From MarketWatch

Architecture critics, who like to put the chapel in a historical context, regard it as a turning point in the discipline—its fanciful use of concrete anticipates Brutalism and its unusual shapes herald Post-Modernism.

From The Wall Street Journal

The era of Jobs’s successor, Tim Cook, is hard to grasp from a historical perspective.

From The Wall Street Journal