Adjacent Words

Historic definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

HISTOR'IC
HISTOR'ICAL, a. [L. historicus.] Containing history, or the relation of facts; as a historical poem; the historic page; historic brass.
1. Pertaining to history; as historic care or fidelity.
2. Contained in history; deduced from history; as historical evidence.
3. Representing history; as a historical chart; historical painting.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: belonging to the past; of what is important or famous in the past; "historic victories"; "historical (or historic) times"; "a historical character" [syn: historic, historical]
2: important in history; "the historic first voyage to outer space"

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 1594 historical: as a. famous or important in history <historic battlefields> b. having great and lasting importance <a historic occasion> c. known or established in the past <historic interest rates> d. dating from or preserved from a past time or culture <historic buildings> <historic artifacts>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 famous or important in history or potentially so (a historic moment). 2 Gram. (of a tense) normally used in the narration of past events (esp. Latin & Greek imperfect and pluperfect; (cf. PRIMARY)). 3 archaic or disp. = HISTORICAL. Phrases and idioms: historic infinitive the infinitive when used instead of the indicative. historic present the present tense used instead of the past in vivid narration. Etymology: L historicus f. Gk historikos (as HISTORY)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Historic His*tor"ic, Historical His*tor"ic*al, a. [L. historicus, Gr. ?: cf. F. historique. See History.] Of or pertaining to history, or the record of past events; as, an historical poem; the historic page. -- His*tor"ic*al*ness, n. -- His*to*ric"i*ty, n. There warriors frowning in historic brass. --Pope. Historical painting, that branch of painting which represents the events of history. Historical sense, that meaning of a passage which is deduced from the circumstances of time, place, etc., under which it was written. The historic sense, the capacity to conceive and represent the unity and significance of a past era or age.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. Something that is historic is important in history, or likely to be considered important at some time in the future. ...the historic changes in Eastern Europe. ADJ: usu ADJ n