The Collaborative International Dictionary
historic \his*tor"ic\ (h[i^]s*t[o^]r"[i^]k), historical \his*tor"ic*al\ (h[i^]s*t[o^]r"[i^]*kal), a. [L. historicus, Gr. "istoriko`s: cf. F. historique. See History.] Of or pertaining to history, or the record of past events; as, an historical poem; the historic page. -- His*tor"ic*al*ness, n. -- His*to*ric"i*ty, n.
There warriors frowning in historic brass.
--Pope.
2. having once lived, existed, or taken place in the real world; -- contrasted with legendary; as, the historical Jesus; doubt that a historical Camelot every existed; actual historical events.
3. Belonging to the past; as, historical (or historic) times; a historical character.
4. Within the period of time recorded in written documents; as, within historic times. Opposite of prehistoric.
Syn: diachronic.
5. (Linguistics) Same as diachronic. synchronic
Historical painting, that branch of painting which represents the events of history.
Historical sense, that meaning of a passage which is deduced from the circumstances of time, place, etc., under which it was written.
The historic sense, the capacity to conceive and represent the unity and significance of a past era or age.
Usage examples of "historical sense".
The United States will cease to be a fact except in the historical sense.
Every act of theirs, which appears to them an act of their own will, is in an historical sense involuntary and is related to the whole course of history and predestined from eternity.
I shall, however, merely thank them for celebrating my arrival, and forgive them for their lack of a genuine historical sense.
I suppose in the historical sense we are, if you think it's all in the blood, but otherwise absolutely not.
Ysfael was Celtic enough and old enough to nudge the most sluggish historical sense?
Abner was dumfounded, but once more his historical sense was excited, and he wished to know more about the myths of these strange people.
Your historical sense fills in what is necessary: the war-clouds gathering, Hitler bestrides the narrow world like a Colossus and as usual none of the politicians know a bastard when they see one.
The new doctrines arose partly because of the accumulation of historical knowledge, and the growth of the historical sense, which had hardly existed before the nineteenth century.
His essays in biography were altogether lacking in any evidence of the historical sense.