historic
Often confused with historical
Pluralhistorics
- 1Important enough to be remembered in history.
Like a day so important that people remember it for many years.
Landing on the moon was a historic event watched by millions.
The team's win was a historic first for the small school.
Similarmomentous, significant, pivotal, memorable, epoch-making
Oppositeinsignificant, unimportant, trivial, forgettable
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- 2Old and kept the same as in the past, not changed by modern life.
Like an old village that still looks just as it did long ago.
We stayed in a historic village where nothing seemed to have changed in years.
The old part of town is historic, with cobblestone streets and no modern shops.
Similarold, traditional, old-world, period, quaint
Oppositemodern, contemporary, new
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- 3Having to do with recorded history or the past in general.
Like anything that has to do with times long ago.
The book mixes historic facts with made-up characters.
An high-pac'd Muse treading a lofty march, leades honor enchaind in an Epique pen, grac'd with the furtherance of historique Clio.
1594, John Dickenson, ArisbasHere, historique means having to do with history or the past.Similarhistorical
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- 4Describing the special verb forms used to tell about things that happened in the past.
Teachers showed how the historic present makes an old story feel like it is happening now.
Some languages have a special historic tense just for telling past events.
Similarhistorical
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Less common meanings
- 5A book or report that tells the true story of the past.
Like a true storybook about real things that happened long ago.
The monk wrote a historic of the abbey's early days.
Before the beginnyng of this historic, I haue thought good by waie of a Proeme, to introduce the wordes of an excellent writer called Lodouicus Caelius Rhodoginus.
1566, William Painter, The Palace of Pleasure BeautifiedHere, historic means a written history, a true account of the past.Note
- 6A person who writes about or studies the past.
Like a person whose job is to write down what happened in the past.
The king kept a historic to write down everything that happened at court.
She trained for years to become a historic.
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Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Latin historicus, meaning 'historical', which came from the Ancient Greek word historikós.