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

Heritage crime refers to any illegal activity that harms historical assets.

From BBC

“I looked at the schedule in April, and a light went off in my brain that these would be historical games of great magnitude,” Hudler said.

From Los Angeles Times

“As a whole, trans people have not had the opportunity to really have our own historical understanding of who we are,” Bell says.

From Los Angeles Times

The show saw him lead conversations with academics about a wide variety of historical, scientific, philosophical and cultural topics - from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to Zenobia, Queen of the Palmyrene Empire.

From BBC

History repeated itself once again last month when Sesko opted to join what he called a "historical club" in Manchester United.

From BBC

Related Words

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