What does historical mean?
Word: Historical
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Historical means connected with history or with people and events of the past; based on what really happened long ago.
Synonyms: past, factual, documented
Antonyms: modern
How do you spell historical?
Syllables: his - tor - i - cal
Tricky part: The middle vowel is o, taken from history; students hear a dull 'uh' there and write histarical.
Watch out for: histarical, histerical, histrical
Memory tip: Story hides inside history, and historical keeps that same o in the middle.
Historical in a sentence
Example 1: Our library has a whole shelf of historical novels about the Mughal emperors.
Example 2: The museum guide wore a historical costume for the heritage walk.
Example 3: Historical records show that the temple was rebuilt twice.
Fun Fact
Historical goes back to the Greek historia, which first meant finding out by asking questions, and only later an account of the past.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Our teacher asked us to write a historicle account of the Dandi March for the school magazine before the end of term.
a) magazine
b) historicle
c) account
d) teacher
Show answer
b) historicle. The ending is ical, the same as in musical and magical.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word historical as used in the sentence:
The film is based on historical events, though the hero's love story was added by the writer.
a) fictional
b) ancient
c) accurate
d) recorded
Show answer
a) fictional. Historical events really happened; fictional ones are invented by a writer.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
The heritage club found a triloachis map of the old city in the library archive.
a) historical
b) historian
c) hysterical
d) rhetorical
Show answer
a) historical. Ten letters, two i's and no y: that is historical, not hysterical.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word:
1. monumant 2. heritige 3. historical 4. ancester
a) traditions and buildings handed down from the past
b) connected with people and events of the past
c) a family member who lived long before you
d) a statue or building put up to remember a person or event
Show answer
b) connected with people and events of the past. Monument ends in ment, ancestor in tor and heritage in tage, so historical is the correctly spelt word.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Pick the historical fact, not an opinion:
a) The Taj Mahal is the loveliest building.
b) The Taj Mahal looks best at sunset.
c) The Taj Mahal was built in the 1600s.
d) Agra is the best city to visit in India.
Show answer
c) The Taj Mahal was built in the 1600s.
2. A historical novel is one whose story ____.
a) takes place in an earlier period
b) is written for very young children
c) is based on a scientist's diary
d) takes place in years to come
Show answer
a) takes place in an earlier period
