Difference between historic and historical

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

I can’t differentiate these words. For example, in this sentence:
It was in the red house that a … meeting took place between the great leaders.
A. history
B. historic
C. historian
D. historical
Why do we choose C, not D?
Can you show me the difference between “historic” and “historical” and the use of each one?
Thanks a lot.

2

Oh, I’m sorry. It’s a mistake. I mean: why do we choose B, not D.

3

Hi Sophie,

‘Historic’ has the sense of being very important in the sense that it will be remembered in the future and ‘go down in history’. ‘Historical’ relates directly to history and is the adjective formed from it. We can call novels/books ‘historical’ if they are set a long way back in the past.

Alan

4

“Famous” is a good synonym for “historic”, but not for a synonym at all for “historical”. That helps tell the difference in meaning, I think.

5

Hi everyone!
i really need to know the difference between these two adjectives:
historic & historical?
[color=red]what should i say? a historic place or a historical place?a historic or a historical occassion?
thanks a lot.

6

As they said, historical places and historic occasion. But we can also use historical occasion if the occasion isn’t too important or famous especially in the past.

[b][color=red]No, this isn’t the case.

Alan[/b]

7

So Alan,

  • The defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) was a historic event.
  • The books that have been published about it, are called historical books/ novels.

Detlef

8

Hi,

Yes, I would agree with those examples.

Alan