transhistorical

adjective

trans·​his·​tor·​i·​cal ˌtran(t)s-(h)i-ˈstȯr-i-kəl How to pronounce transhistorical (audio)
ˌtranz-,
-ˈstär-
: transcending historical bounds

Examples of transhistorical in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web McCloskey’s insistence that people should evaluate situations in transhistorical terms rather than protest the inequities of their own time and place proceeds from a wrongheaded conception of freedom that excises us from our contexts. Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 21 Apr. 2023 The twenty-one oil paintings, most of them large format—roughly four and a half by four feet, or larger—use contemporary pop-culture references, allusions to art history and literature, and images of Brooks’s friends and social-media acquaintances to create a kind of transhistorical community. Garth Greenwell, The New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2021 Not for the shallow motive of transhistorical blame, much less to induce personal comfort or discomfort, but rather in the service of truth. Zadie Smith, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2022 More generally, if history is one long catastrophe returning in new guises, the work of historical reckoning can pass into a transhistorical fatalism. Ben Lerner, The New York Review of Books, 25 Feb. 2021 The result is that in Portrait attraction between women is a force loose in the world, circulating unpredictably among us, with the same claims to transhistorical ubiquity that romances have long made for attraction between men and women. Elaine Blair, The New York Review of Books, 17 Dec. 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'transhistorical.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of transhistorical was in 1909

Dictionary Entries Near transhistorical

Cite this Entry

“Transhistorical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transhistorical. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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