Meaning & use
historian
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person who studies, researches, and writes about the past.
Grammar: Countable: a historian, several historians.
Patterns
- a historian studies something
- according to historians
- a historian of something
The historian spent years reading letters from the 18th century.
According to most historians, the war began in 1939.
She is a historian of ancient Rome and has written three books on the subject.
nouncountable
A person who is an expert on or writes about a particular period, place, or subject.
Grammar: Often followed by 'of' or a noun: a historian of science, an art historian.
Patterns
- a historian of something
- an art historian
- a military historian
He is a military historian who specializes in the Napoleonic Wars.
The art historian explained the painting's hidden symbols.
As a historian of science, she focuses on early astronomy.
Word forms
| plural | historians |
|---|
Common combinations
- a leading historian
- A leading historian gave a lecture on the topic.
- according to historians
- According to historians, the city was abandoned around 1200.
- an art historian
- The art historian examined the painting's style.
- a military historian
- A military historian wrote the introduction.
- a historian of science
- She is a historian of science at a major university.
Synonyms and how they differ
- chronicler
- A chronicler records events in order as they happen, often without deep analysis; a historian studies and interprets the past more broadly.
- scholar
- A scholar is an expert in any academic field, while a historian is specifically an expert in history.
Word family
- history noun
- The study of past events, or the events themselves.
- historic adjective
- Important or significant in history.
- historical adjective
- Relating to the past or to the study of history.
- historically adverb
- In the past, or in terms of history.
Commonly confused: historian or historic? historian or historical?
historian vs historic
A historian is a person, while historic is an adjective meaning important in history, as in 'a historic moment'.
historian vs historical
Historical means relating to the past, as in 'historical documents'. It is not a person, so it cannot replace historian.
Practice
The ___ spent ten years researching the letters of ordinary soldiers.
Choose one answer.
'Historian' is the person who does the research. 'Historic' and 'historical' are adjectives, and 'history' is the subject, so none of them can be the subject of 'spent' here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “historian”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.