historic

adjective

his·​tor·​ic hi-ˈstȯr-ik 

-ˈstär-

: historical: such 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

Did you know?

historic or historical?

Do you experience a slight pause before using either of these words as you try to remember which one is correct and whether it should be preceded by an or a? If so, you’re not alone, for many people find this pair particularly tricky. Historic and historical are both occasionally found preceded by an, since the initial h in each word was formerly left unpronounced. Now this h is heard, and a is far more common than an (by a ratio of about 4 to 1 in American English).

Historic and historical have been used interchangeably by many writers, even in recent years. If you would like to avoid being corrected, however, use historical for matters relating to history (the historical society), and historic to refer to things having great and lasting importance (a historic occasion).

Synonyms of historic

• major
• important
• significant
• big
• monumental

Examples of historic in a Sentence

It's wonderful to see so many people here on this historic occasion.

She returned safely from her historic flight into space.

The court made a historic decision last week.

They know of many historic volcanic eruptions in the area.

the historic importance of the river

Recent Examples on the Web

Third, February’s report will include some annual revisions that were postponed due to the historic government shutdown this past fall. —Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 6 Mar. 2026

On Thursday, March 5, 2026, Emily Ratajkowski took to Instagram to share a cute moment of Sly, 4, watching the historic landmark light up. —Elle Meier, InStyle, 5 Mar. 2026

The harrowing encounter took place the day after a historic winter storm dumped nearly 2 feet of snow on the five boroughs. —Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 5 Mar. 2026

These included the use of adjacent buildings, and the raising funds for repairs and improvements for the sale of air rights — though adding more floors would require a setback from the façade to preserve its historic character, Preservation Chicago said. —Adam Harrington, CBS News, 5 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1594, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for historic

• caloric
• dysphoric
• euphoric
• folkloric
• plethoric
• pyloric
• anaphoric
• metaphoric
• meteoric
• paregoric
• prehistoric
• pyrophoric

Kids Definition

historic

adjective

his·​tor·​ic his-ˈtȯr-ik 

-ˈtär-

1

: historical sense 1

2

: famous in history

historic events