historical
adjective
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).
Examples of historical in a Sentence
Ricky Sayer, CBS News, 11 Apr. 2026
Librarians advised that few historical records from the area around New Cut had survived centuries of weather, a county courthouse fire, and war.
—Literary Hub, 10 Apr. 2026
The movie includes footage of real historical tragedies — harrowing video from liberated concentration camps — along with contemporaneous ones, like the crash of PSA Flight 182, which happened less than two months before Faces of Death was released.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2026
The study was authorized by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 and includes an evaluation of the region’s historical, cultural and environmental resources.
—City News Service, Daily News, 10 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for historical
Cite this Entry
“Historical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/historical. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.
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historical
adjective
