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history

noun

ˈhi-st(ə-)rē How to pronounce history (audio)
Definition of historynext
1
as in annals
an account of important events in the order in which they happened a history of the American civil rights movement during the 1960s

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in chronology
a relating of events usually in the order in which they happened we heard the whole history of her illness in excruciating detail

Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in past
the events or experience of former times history has many lessons to teach us, if only we would listen

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of history The Review has a history of publishing big feelings about football, keeping with the Oberlin tradition of having big feelings about a lot of things. — Jesse Dougherty, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2026 Answer some basic questions about your financial history, like late mortgage payments, foreclosures and bankruptcies. — Dan Simms, USA Today, 5 Sep. 2026 Viewers unfamiliar with Dostoevsky may struggle to determine which women, flirtations, and betrayals belong to history — and which come from his fiction or are the original work of Szumowska and Englert entirely. — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2026 The Scream saga began with a ringing phone and one of the most surprising murders in horror-movie history. — Michael Lee Simpson, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for history
Recent Examples of Synonyms for history
  1. record
  2. chronology
  3. past
  4. story
  5. commentary
  6. account
  7. report
  8. chronicle
Noun
  • His Emmy win last week for guest acting on The Bear set the record for longest gap between acting Emmy victories at 48 years.
    — Vulture Staff, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2026
  • The Republican National Committee said it's already recruited a record number of poll watchers.
    — NICHOLAS RICCARDI, Arkansas Online, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of record
Noun
  • The Lucas Museum pushes that approach further by making storytelling — not chronology, geography or medium — the organizing principle for an entire institution, placing illustration, comics and commercial art inside a curatorial framework.
    — Jane Horowitz, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2026
  • One of the best actors working today, Coon essentially plays two different sides of Rita with astonishing range across these chronologies, portraying the past and the present of her character through distinctive markers.
    — Tomris Laffly, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of chronology
Noun
  • Fenerbahce got in on the act by recruiting Nathan Ake from Manchester City and Greenwood from Marseille, bluntly unconcerned by the latter’s past.
    — Nick Miller, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
  • The constantly changing present moment is no more than a dividing line between past and future and so does not have a tangible existence of its own.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of past
Noun
  • Dunn shared a story about a bat crashing into his leg while entering an arena for a bass tournament weigh-in.
    — Bryan Hendricks, Arkansas Online, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Success inside the ring is only one part of the Taylor story, though.
    — Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of story
Noun
  • Members of the club’s in-house commentary team embraced fans in front of them; manager David Moyes punched the air.
    — Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Magnus had almost entirely eradicated the type of commentary that divided fans along political and racial lines.
    — Bobby Burack OutKick, FOXNews.com, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of commentary
Noun
  • The club’s 2025-26 accounts, due to be approved by members on September 19, but already obtained by The Athletic, add another chapter to the canon.
    — Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • On Friday, hours ahead of its college football game against Missouri in Lawrence, the Kansas Football social account released a hype video using Civil War imagery.
    — Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of account
Noun
  • All those training camp practice reports are last month’s news.
    — Zach Berman, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Bridgespan’s report finds that families in middle-income countries are more likely to administer their own programs than those in higher-income countries.
    — Nicholas Gordon, Fortune, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of report
Noun
  • The diaries of the novelist Andrey Kurkov (collected into three volumes thus far) provide a rich chronicle of Ukrainians’ evolving responses to their extraordinary circumstances.
    — Nick Holdstock, The Dial, 8 Sep. 2026
  • The movie is also a chronicle of the degradation of what passes for news reporting; Sun staffers are told that every murder, rape or theft has to be written up like a thriller.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of chronicle

Browse Nearby Words

histories
history
histrionic
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Cite this Entry

“History.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/history. Accessed 16 Sep. 2026.

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