historian
Americannoun
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historians
plural
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an expert in history; authority on history.
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a writer of history; chronicler.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of historian
Explanation
A historian is someone who is an authority on history. Your American History textbook was written by a historian. If you've ever taken a history class, chances are it was taught by a historian — someone who is an expert on history. You don't get to be a historian overnight; most historians have studied history for years and have a Master's or Ph.D. in history. If you want an informed opinion on past elections, wars, disasters, and trends, talk to a historian or read a book by one. Historians are experts on the past.
Vocabulary lists containing historian
"Mysteries of the Ancient Past"
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"The Sword in the Stone" and "Was There a Real King Arthur?"
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Week 5: Into the Past
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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.
See Examples For:
"When things go wrong in the royal family, people tend to blame anyone but the king," historian Trond Norén Isaksen remarked.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Perz, the historian, said a debate like the one today around the Hirtenberg site "would have been impossible in the 1980s", adding that there is now "more sensitivity" towards former Nazi sites.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a Calvin University historian who writes about white evangelicals and gender, was not surprised.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
Ms. Southon, a historian of Rome educated at the University of Birmingham, would justify this decision as a substantive strategy and not merely stylistic flair.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Similarly, a European historian is not satisfied with describing the condition of Europe in both 1815 and 1918 as having just achieved peace after a costly pan-European war.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
There’s a question historians will one day ask of this era: Who started the global nuclear arms race?
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
New research from the University of East Anglia suggests that a lost papal letter could change how historians understand the events of 1066 and the Norman Conquest.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
Since the report’s release, some historians have uncovered other origin stories for American towns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
In fact, historians do not really know how it was pronounced, he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
Having considered this matter very superficially, historians on the one hand admire these deeds of his, and on the other condemn the main cause of them.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
