historical

[hi-stawr-i-kuhl, -stor-]

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

/ 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

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of historical¹

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

Example Sentences

If Spain in the 1930s may look racially homogeneous from our supposedly enlightened point of view, Kaufman indirectly makes the point that such definitions are always subjective, and subject to historical revision.

Read more on Salon

Chabria: I don’t argue the historical case against the Golden State, but I will argue that these are different days.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The unemployment rate, which stood at 4.3% before the shutdown, is still extremely low by historical standards, despite a recent rise.

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While those megacap tech stocks may seem expensive given their trillion-dollar-plus valuations, several actually trade at a discount to their historical valuation multiples.

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China and Japan are key trading partners, but historical mistrust and friction over territorial rivalries and military spending often test those ties.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• actual 
• ancient 
• archival 
• classical 
• factual 
• real