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 ( def 1 ).

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

Derived Forms

• hisˈtoricalness, noun
• hisˈtorically, adverb

Other Words From

• his·tor·i·cal·ly adverb
• his·tor·i·cal·ness noun
• an·ti·his·tor·i·cal adjective
• an·ti·his·tor·i·cal·ness noun
• non·his·tor·i·cal adjective
• non·his·tor·i·cal·ness noun
• pseu·do·his·tor·i·cal adjective
• qua·si-his·tor·i·cal adjective
• sem·i·his·tor·i·cal adjective
• su·per·his·tor·i·cal adjective
• un·his·tor·i·cal 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

It doesn’t help that Donald Trump, president-elect of the world’s largest historical carbon emitter, has a long history of making false statements about climate science and renewable energy.

From Los Angeles Times

First and foremost, the public interest dictates that we have the fullest possible historical account of what happened, which is a recognized justification for special counsel reports.

From Los Angeles Times

The show’s one glitch is its occasional incorporation of contemporary art among the historical works.

From Los Angeles Times

Hamas made no mention of the Deif warrant but said the move against Netanyahu and Gallant constituted an "important historical precedent, and a correction to a long path of historical injustice against our people".

From BBC

Nevertheless, correcting this cold period could increase confidence in the amount of observed warming, changing what we know about historical climate variability and improve the quality of future climate models.

From Science Daily

Related Words

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