historical method

American  

noun

1. the process of establishing general facts and principles through attention to chronology and to the evolution or historical course of what is being studied.

---

historical method British  

noun

1. a means of learning about something by considering its origins and development

---

Etymology

Origin of historical method

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

And that's another reason why I admire Murray so much is that he was very true to the scientific method and the historical method of the Dictionary.

From Salon • Oct. 22, 2023

Jenkins describes herself as “a prosecutor who is looking away from the historical method of punishment and incarceration,” an echo of Price and of Boudin.

From Washington Post • Mar. 20, 2023

The question of the nature, and even the possibility, of a sound historical method is so central that it has been continuously raised in the philosophy of history as a question of epistemology.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2019

Dray’s historical method involves a bit of overlapping and backtracking, and he sometimes seems more interested in the literary description and public presentation of hunting rather than the act itself.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2018

The facts with regard to these things which the wide research necessitated by the historical method furnishes abundantly to the modern lexicographer are often among the most novel and interesting of his acquisitions.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 4 "Diameter" to "Dinarchus" by Various