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Historical vs Current - What's the difference?

historical | current |

As adjectives the difference between historical and current

is that historical is pertaining to the history, to what happened in the past while current is existing or occurring at the moment.

As nouns the difference between historical and current

is that historical is a historical romance while current is the part of a fluid that moves continuously in a certain direction.

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.

    current

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The part of a fluid that moves continuously in a certain direction.
  • (electricity) The time rate of flow of electric charge.
  • :* Symbol': '''''I (inclined upper case letter "I")
  • :* Units:
  • :: SI: ampere (A)
  • :: CGS: esu/second (esu/s)
  • A tendency or a course of events.
  • Synonyms

    * (part of a fluid that moves continuously in a certain direction ): flow, stream * (time rate of flow of electric charge ): electric current * (tendency or course of events ): flow, stream, tendency

    Derived terms

    * undercurrent

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Existing or occurring at the moment.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Timothy Garton Ash)
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli , passage=Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.}}
  • Generally accepted, used, practiced, or prevalent at the moment.
  • * Arbuthnot
  • That there was current money in Abraham's time is past doubt.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them
  • (obsolete) Running or moving rapidly.
  • * Gower
  • Like the current fire, that renneth / Upon a cord.
  • * Tennyson
  • To chase a creature that was current then / In these wild woods, the hart with golden horns.

    Synonyms

    * (existing or occurring at the moment ): present * (generally accepted, used, practiced, or prevalent at the moment ): fashionable, prevailing, prevalent, rife, up-to-date

    Antonyms

    * (existing or occurring at the moment ): future, past * (generally accepted, used, practiced, or prevalent at the moment ): out-of-date, unfashionable