ahistorical
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of ahistorical
First recorded in 1925–30; a- 6 + historical
Explanation
Something that's ahistorical completely ignores or disregards the history or tradition that came before it. An ahistorical review of a movie would leave out any references to influential films and directors. An ahistorical political outlook can be misguided or even dangerous, because it doesn't take the lessons of the past into account. People who are nostalgic about the past are often taking an ahistorical perspective, choosing not to think about advances in civil and human rights through history. The word ahistorical dates from 1950, combining a, "not," and historical, "concerning past events."
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.
With this intimate, painful epiphany, the show’s larger parable about obligingly submitting to ahistorical ignorance is blunted with a spiritually benevolent ideal.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026
The broader biographical facts are obeyed, but “Amadeus” is fundamentally ahistorical, and sometimes implausible: It is to be trusted only as television.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
Finally, in 2019, after its latest makeover, the Museum of Modern Art abandoned the traditional, linear narrative in favor of an eclectic, ahistorical installation of artists and artworks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
And by bizarre, I mean ahistorical and wrong.
From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2026
The boxlike room, stripped of all embellishment or parlor fussiness, a room that wished to be timeless or ahistorical, and there, in the middle of it, my deeply historical, timeworn grandmother.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
