What does nonhistorical mean?
Nonhistorical means not connected with history, historical events, or the historical record. It may describe an account that is based on folklore rather than documented events, a setting presented outside ordinary chronology, or a religious or political institution with no identifiable historical basis. The word is formal and less common than historical, but it can make a precise negative distinction: something nonhistorical is not merely poorly documented or inaccurate; it is presented as having no historical connection. In literary and cultural analysis, the term can also indicate that a work ignores historical context, though ahistorical is often preferred in that narrower sense. Nonhistorical should not be used simply to mean fictional, since a fictional work can still depict a particular historical period accurately. Its usefulness lies in making the absence of a historical basis explicit.
adjectiveNot connected with historical events or historical fact; not regarded as part of history.
- Not connected with historical events or historical fact.
- Not regarded as belonging to a particular period of recorded history.
"The novel presents the village as a timeless, nonhistorical setting untouched by recorded events."
"Her account of the ceremony is deliberately nonhistorical and draws on folklore rather than documented events."
"The critics regarded the invented religion as nonhistorical because it had no identifiable basis in the historical record."
Nonhistorical lets a story escape the chronology of real events without pretending that every invented place must be a hidden piece of history.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does nonhistorical come from?
Nonhistorical is an English formation combining the productive prefix non- with historical, meaning connected with history. The prefix non- has long been used in English to form negative terms, including negative counterparts of inherited and borrowed words. Historical itself derives through French from Latin historia, a stem also underlying historic, history, and historian.
Related word forms
How nonhistorical is actually used
The word is formal and relatively uncommon. It is especially useful for describing narratives, settings, accounts, or institutions that are not connected with the historical record.
Easily confused with nonhistorical
Nonhistorical directly means not historical, whereas ahistorical more often means disconnected from, or indifferent to, historical context and development.
Historical refers to something connected with history, while nonhistorical expressly denies such a connection.