historic
English
Alternative forms
- (obsolete) historick, hystoric, historique
Etymology
From Latin historicus (“historical”), from Ancient Greek ἱστορικός (historikós, “exact; historical”).[1] Cognate with French historique.
Pronunciation
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Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɒrɪk
Adjective
historic (comparative more historic, superlative most historic)
- Very important; noteworthy: having importance or significance in history.
- A historic opportunity
- July 4, 1776, is a historic date. A great deal of historical research has been done on the events leading up to that day.
- The historical works of Lord Macaulay and Edward Gibbon are in and of themselves historic.
- Old-fashioned, untouched by modernity.
- 1756 August, Horace Walpole, letter republished in Private Correspondence (1820), Vol. II, No. 1:
- Sights are thick sown in the counties of York and Nottingham: the former is more historic.
- 1756 August, Horace Walpole, letter republished in Private Correspondence (1820), Vol. II, No. 1:
- (now uncommon) Synonym of historical: of, concerning, or in accordance with recorded history or the past generally (See usage notes.)
- (grammar) Various grammatical tenses and moods specially used in retelling past events.
Usage notes
- Like many terms that start with a non-silent h but have emphasis on their second syllable, some people precede historic with an, others with a.
- Historic and historical are variants of one another and have shared the same meaning (related to history) for much of their history. In present usage, however, a distinction is often made between the two: historic is used as an adjective for the study of history, while historical is used as an adjective for the events of the past. As such, historic is used to describe people, things, and events that are or will be considered important by future historians, while historical is used for people, things, and events in the past, whether important or not. A "historic event" is an important moment past, present, or in the future; a "historical event" is some moment in the past.
Synonyms
- (very important): important, notable, significant, landmark, momentous, groundbreaking; see also Thesaurus:important
- (old-fashioned): dated, old-fangled, outdated
- (historical): bygone, foregone; see also Thesaurus:past
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
having significance in history
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historical — see historical
Noun
historic (plural historics)
References
- Words @ Random
- The American Heritage Book of English Usage
- Paul Brian's "Common Errors in English Usage: Historic"
- English Plus+
- The UVic Writer's Guide
- Garbl's Writing Center
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "historic, n. and adj." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2012.
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɒrɪk
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Grammar
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- en:Time