historical
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events.
historical records;
historical research.
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based on or reconstructed from an event, custom, style, etc., in the past.
a historical reenactment of the battle of Gettysburg.
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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.
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narrated or mentioned in history; belonging to the past.
He cited several historical examples of international conflict resolution.
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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.
adjective
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belonging to or typical of the study of history
historical methods
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concerned with or treating of events of the past
historical accounts
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based on or constituting factual material as distinct from legend or supposition
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based on or inspired by history
a historical novel
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occurring or prominent in history
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a less common word for historic
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of historical
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin historic(us) historic ( def. ) + -al 1 ( def. )
Explanation
Use the adjective historical to describe something that happened in the past, like the historical details of your ancestors' immigration to the United States. When you're talking about events in the past, you can call them historical. Civil War reenactors might work hard to research the perfect historical costumes, and set designers for period films try to recreate rooms with historical accuracy, making them look just like they would have in the past. The word historical traces back to the Greek word historia, "a learning by inquiry, history, or record."
Vocabulary lists containing historical
TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Lesson 1
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Reading: Informational - Middle School
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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.
To test how much of that nostalgia reflected an actual historical difference, I called alcohol historian Scott Martin.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
In the worst-affected areas, soil moisture is lower than on about 98% of comparable dates in the historical record, according to Prof Luis Samaniego, from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
The breakthrough of talking pictures introduced the voiceover narration—a revolutionary development that allowed for further context to be added to historical footage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
That “has never happened in our historical record dating back to 1950,” Michelle L’Heureux, the El Niño team lead for NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, told The Times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Perhaps because we are still living their legacy, we have yet to reach a genuinely historical perspective on the revolutionary generation.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
