historic
adjective
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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).
Examples of historic in a Sentence
Elizabeth Fazzare, Architectural Digest, 17 Dec. 2025
The spirit that still drives flight Today marks the 122nd anniversary of that historic morning, a moment that still resonates far beyond the windswept dunes of North Carolina.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 17 Dec. 2025
But a group led by Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez pushed back, calling to save a building that, though not formally designated as historic, was designed by architect Morris Lapidus and houses a community daycare center.
—Aaron Leibowitz, Miami Herald, 17 Dec. 2025
If anything, industries that rely on manual labor are cutting jobs, not adding them, a trend that economists blame at least in part on the president’s historic and volatile tariff policy.
—Nayeli Jaramillo-Plata, CNN Money, 17 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for historic
Cite this Entry
“Historic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/historic. Accessed 19 Dec. 2025.
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historic
adjective
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