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What is the difference between historic and historical?

historic | historical |

Historical is a derived term of historic.

Historical is a synonym of historic.



As adjectives the difference between historic and historical

is that historic is having importance or significance in history while historical is pertaining to the history, to what happened in the past.

As a noun historical is

a historical romance.

historic

English

Alternative forms

* historick (obsolete) * hystoric (nonstandard)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having importance or significance in history.
  • Belonging to the past; historical (see note below).

    • Usage notes

    * The rule that "an" is used before vowel sounds is confounded by the wide variety in pronunciation (particularly regional) of the sometimes-silent h''. For example, in the United States, the ''h generally is not silent. (See s for more details.) * Modern convention makes a distinction between historic''''' and '''''historical''''', although the two words are variants and have shared the same meanings for much of their history. '''''Historic''''' means "very important in history or having a long history", while '''''historical''''' refers to people who lived or events that occurred in the past, or refers to things that are connected with or found in the past. For example, a '''historic event''' is an important event of history, while a ' historical event is any event that happened in the past, whether important or not. *: July 4, 1776 is a historic date. A great deal of historical research has been done on the events leading up to that day. *: The historical works of Lord Macaulay and Edward Gibbon are in and of themselves historic.

    Antonyms

    * unhistoric

    Derived terms

    * historical * posthistoric

    References

    * Words @ Random * The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. * Paul Brians Common Errors in English Usage * English Plus+ * The UVic Writer's Guide * Garbl's Writing Center

    Anagrams

    *

    historical

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Pertaining to the history, to what happened in the past.

    • Usage notes

    * * See the usage notes about (m) for more.

    Synonyms

    * historic

    Derived terms

    * ahistorical * art-historical

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A historical romance.
  • * 1999 , Anne K. Kaler, Rosemary E. Johnson-Kurek, Romantic Conventions , page 63:
    • However, as regular romance readers know, the romance novels that appear on the best-seller lists are not Harlequins at all, but rather historicals and contemporaries, which vary widely from the Harlequin pattern in style, plot, and character.