historiography

[ hi-stawr-ee-og-ruh-fee, -stohr- ]

noun,plural his·to·ri·og·ra·phies.

the body of literature dealing with historical matters; histories collectively.
the body of techniques, theories, and principles of historical research and presentation; methods of historical scholarship.

the narrative presentation of history based on a critical examination, evaluation, and selection of material from primary and secondary sources and subject to scholarly criteria.
an official history: medieval historiographies.

Origin of historiography

1560–70; <Middle French historiographie<Greek historiographía.See history, -o-, -graphy

Other words from historiography

his·to·ri·o·graph·ic [hi-stawr-ee-uh-graf-ik, -stohr-], /hɪˌstɔr i əˈgræf ɪk, -ˌstoʊr-/, his·to·ri·o·graph·i·cal, adjective
his·to·ri·o·graph·i·cal·ly, adverb

Words Nearby historiography

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use historiography in a sentence

The work of historiography is to locate events in time, in all their contingent specificity.
What the Greek Myths Can Teach Us About Our Moment of Crisis | Charlotte Higgins | January 19, 2022 | Time
It was this sense of ethnic superiority that allowed a spurious historiography whereby America was discovered by Vikings.
No, the Vikings Did Not Discover America. Here's Why That Myth is Problematic | Gordon Campbell | June 29, 2021 | Time
Official historiography places the origins of Belarus in Soviet ideology.
Forget Kim Jong Un—China’s New Favorite Dictator Is Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko. | Kapil Komireddi | January 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Some nations have mythology that is more historically accurate than Russian official historiography.
How Russians Forget Their Own Past | David Frum | April 3, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
They may well, in fact, be the most discussed questions in 20th century historiography.
UPDATED: David's Bookclub: Iron Curtain | David Frum | November 23, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST

I am only very slightly kidding here: this is precisely the stuff of scholarly historiography, as it should be.
The Art of the Historical Film | Megan McArdle | November 20, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
But Arafat's take on history, his lies, in effect, fly in the face of 1,400 years of Muslim tradition and historiography.
Temple Denial | Benny Morris | April 24, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Moreover the traditions of pragmatical historiography had by no means disappeared.
Evolution in Modern Thought | Ernst Haeckel
But historiography cannot permanently evade the questions raised by these theories.
Evolution in Modern Thought | Ernst Haeckel
His output is perhaps the greatest of any isolated worker in the whole history of historiography.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 5 | Various
For the rest we have in our hands a product of the oldest Hebrew historiography.
The Literature of the Old Testament | George Foot Moore
All this time, there are no Albanians in the historiography of this cursed land.
After the Rain | Sam Vaknin

British Dictionary definitions for historiography

historiography

/ (ˌhɪstɔːrɪˈɒɡrəfɪ) /

noun

the writing of history
the study of the development of historical method, historical research, and writing

any body of historical literature

Derived forms of historiography

historiographic (hɪˌstɔːrɪəˈɡræfɪk) or historiographical, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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