[syn: diachronic, historical]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
historic \his*tor"ic\ (h[i^]s*t[o^]r"[i^]k), historical
\his*tor"ic*al\ (h[i^]s*t[o^]r"[i^]*kal), a. [L. historicus, Gr.
"istoriko`s: 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.
[1913 Webster]
There warriors frowning in historic brass. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
2. having once lived, existed, or taken place in the real
world; -- contrasted with legendary; as, the historical
Jesus; doubt that a historical Camelot every existed;
actual historical events.
[WordNet 1.5]
3. Belonging to the past; as, historical (or historic) times;
a historical character.
[WordNet 1.5]
4. Within the period of time recorded in written documents;
as, within historic times. Opposite of prehistoric.
Syn: diachronic.
[WordNet 1.5]
5. (Linguistics) Same as diachronic. synchronic
[WordNet 1.5]
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.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
historical
adj 1: of or relating to the study of history; "historical
scholars"; "a historical perspective" [ant:
ahistorical]
2: having once lived or existed or taken place in the real world
as distinct from being legendary; "the historical Jesus";
"doubt that a historical Camelot every existed"; "actual
historical events"
3: 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]
4: used of the study of a phenomenon (especially language) as it
changes through time; "diachronic linguistics" [syn:
diachronic, historical] [ant: synchronic]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
78 Moby Thesaurus words for "historical":
absolute, actual, admitting no question, ascertained, attested,
authentic, authenticated, autobiographical, biographical,
categorically true, certain, certified, chronologic, confirmable,
confirmed, corroborated, de facto, demonstrable, demonstratable,
demonstrated, determined, documentary, documented, effectual,
established, factual, for real, genuine, hagiographic, historic,
historied, historiographic, honest-to-God, inappealable,
incontestable, incontrovertible, indisputable, indubitable,
irrefragable, irrefutable, legendary, martyrologic, not in error,
objectively true, positive, provable, proved, real, recorded,
reliable, self-evident, substantial, substantiated, sure-enough,
testable, traditional, true, true as gospel, truthful,
unanswerable, unconfutable, unconfuted, undeniable, undenied,
undoubted, unerroneous, unfallacious, unfalse, unimpeachable,
unmistaken, unquestionable, unrefutable, unrefuted, validated,
veracious, verifiable, verified, veritable