ahistorical

American  

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

Also ahistoric

adjective

1. without concern for history or historical development; indifferent to tradition.

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ahistorical British  

/ ˌeɪhɪsˈtɒrɪkəl /

adjective

1. not related to history; not historical

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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

It makes me chuckle because the trauma is so evident, but it also makes me angry because it is fundamentally ahistorical and untrue.

From Slate • Jan. 6, 2025

At a time when instruction in biology can be increasingly reductive and ahistorical, paleontologists teach us the astonishing breadth of past and present life on Earth and the long history that led to today’s biosphere.

From Scientific American • Aug. 30, 2023

To say he "developed skills," as if he had signed up for some sort of apprenticeship program, is appallingly ahistorical.

From Salon • Jul. 28, 2023

“Like with anything else these days, it’s introduced through this ahistorical signposting phenomenon,” he said.

From Washington Post • Apr. 19, 2023

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