History definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (35)

American Heritage Dictionary (11)

noun A usually chronological record of events, as of the life or development of a people or institution, often including an explanation of or commentary on those events: a history of the Vikings.
noun A formal written account of related natural phenomena: a history of volcanoes.
noun A record of a patient's medical background.

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Century Dictionary (16)

A narrative, oral or written, of past events; a story: as, a history of England; a history of the civil war; a history of an individual. Ther-off scripture make as an historie, To ende that ay ther-of be memorie. Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), Int., l. 118. I have heard a prety history concerning this mountaine. Coryat, Crudities, I. 91.
The recorded events of the past; also, that branch of science which is occupied with ascertaining and recording the facts of the past. History may deal with the past development of human affairs as a whole, or with some special phase of human activity, as in political history, ecclesiastical history, the history of philosophy, etc.; or with the life of animals, as in natural history; or with inorganic nature, as in geological history; but with reference to the lower animals and to inanimate nature the term has often no special implication of past time (see natural history, below). It is the true office of history to represent the events themselves together with the counsels, and to leave the observations and conclusions thereupon to the liberty and faculty of every man's judgment. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 136. I have read somewhere or other—in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I think—that history is philosophy teaching by example. Bolingbroke. Already for each I see history preparing a statue and niche. Lowell, Fable for Critics. It is a favorite maxim of mine that history, while it should be scientific in its method, should pursue a practical object. That is, it should not only gratify the reader's curiosity about the past, but modify his view of the present, and his forecast of the future. J. R. Seeley, Expansion of England, Int. We do not so much want history explained after the manner of science as we want it portrayed and interpreted after the manner of literature. The Century, XXVII. 926.
Recorded or accomplished fact; also, the aggregate of the events, recorded or unrecorded, which mark a given period of past time, as in the development of an individual or of a race, etc.: as, a checkered history. Per. Where were you bred? … Mar. If I should tell my history, it would seem Like lies disdained in the reporting. Shak., Pericles, v. 1 One man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. … Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness. Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. All town-sprinkled lands that be, Sailing through stars with all their history. Emerson, Monadnoc. The history of Europe, the history of Aryan man in Europe, the history of man as a really civilized and political being, begins in the lands round the Mediterranean, and of them it begins in the islands and peninsulas of Greece. E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 277.

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Chinese restaurants have played an important role in American history, as a matter of fact. — Jennifer 8. Lee hunts for General Tso
At various civil rights moments in American history, the courts 'vital role in enforcing equal protection, and judges themselves, have come under tremendous pressure. — 365 Gay News
We've also made the largest investment in basic research funding in American history, an investment that will spur not only new discoveries in energy, but breakthroughs in medicine, in science and technology. — BeThink - Front Page
Right now it's the biggest one month drop in American history, and it's up by about 50,000 over — Donklephant
Because even as we mark this moment in American history, there still will be empty seats at the dinner table; there still will be spouses struggling to juggle roles and responsibilities; there still will be children who mark the passing of a birthday without Mommy and toddlers who know their father only by a grainy video stream from a far-flung corner of the globe.

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story · character · science · knowledge · life

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Middle English histoire, from Old French, from Latin historia, from Greek historiā, from historein, to inquire, from histōr, learned man; see weid- in Indo-European roots.

Century Dictionary (2)

from Middle English historie (abbreviation storie, later English story, q. v.), late Middle English also histoire, after F.: cf. Old French estoire, histoire, French histoire = Provencal historia, estoria, storia = Spanish Portuguese historia = Italian istoria = D. G. Danish historie = Swedish historia, from Latin historia, from Greek ἱστορία, a learning or knowing by inquiry, the knowledge so obtained, information, a narrative, history, from ἵστωρ or ἵστωρ, knowing, learned, a wise man, a judge, for *ἵδτωρ, from εἰδέναι, know, 2d aorist ἰδεῖν, see, = English wit, know: see wit, v.
from Old French historier, from Middle Latin historiare, narrate, depict, from Latin historia, history: see history, n.

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