Historic vs Historical | Difference & Meaning
Historic means “important in history” (e.g, “a historic day for the country”), while historical means “to do with the past” (e.g., “historical evidence”) or “to do with history (e.g. “from a historical point of view”).
| Historical in a sentence | Historic in a sentence |
|---|---|
| She is most famous for her historical fiction. | She lives very near the historic site where the famous battle depicted in her book took place. |
| The book’s main character’s are all little-known historical figures. | Her latest book is about one of China’s most historic figures. |
| Researching the book involved searching through thousands of historical records. | You will find her books in the gift shops of all the historic buildings featured in her writing. |
Historic meaning
The adjective historic means “important or famous in history.” For example, describing a building as “historic” means that, in the past, important events have taken place there or important people have lived there.
Many historic moments have taken place inside this building.
She is a historic figure that everyone learns about in school.
Historical meaning
The adjective historical means “relating to history or the past.” If you describe something as “historical,” you aren’t expressing anything about how important or momentous it is in history. You are just saying that it is related to history, to do with the past rather than now, or of interest to historians.
The library’s historical newspaper collection is available online.
Building the freeway will destroy several historical sites, including the remains of a church and cemetery.
All of your historical data will be deleted unless you request otherwise.
An historic or a historic
It is correct to write a historic and a historical in modern English, and this is what most style guides recommend for formal writing such as academic writing.
- This is a historic achievement.
- This is an historic achievement.
- She is doing a historical analysis of the country’s monetary policy.
- She is doing an historical analysis of the country’s monetary policy.
In the past, the “h” in “historic” and “historical” was not pronounced, so these words were treated as starting with a vowel sound, which should be preceded by the indefinite article an rather than a.
Some people still prefer to use an before these words, even though the “h” is now pronounced. This is perhaps partly because they find “an historic/historical” slightly easier to pronounce in fast, natural speech or more aesthetically pleasing; saying an unstressed a sound immediately followed by the unstressed first syllable of these words (“his-”, which begins with the breathy voiceless consonant /h/) can be slightly awkward in connected speech.
Frequently asked questions about historic vs historical
- What is a synonym for historic?
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Synonyms and near synonyms for the adjective historic include:
- Momentous
- Famed
- Legendary
- Iconic
- Storied
On a related note, it matters if you use historic or historical as these two words have different meanings.
Why not use QuillBot’s free Paraphraser to help you find the best synonym for “historic” in your specific context?
- What is a synonym for historical?
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Synonyms and near synonyms for the adjective historical include:
- Past
- Old
- Ancient
- Heritage
- Archival
On a related note, historic and historical have different meanings, so be careful not to mix them up.
You can use QuillBot’s free Paraphraser to help you find the best synonym for “historical” in your specific context.
