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Glite Dictionary
ahistorical

ahistorical

1 8.4
Not connected to past events
  • adjective
  • /ˌeɪhɪˈstɔrɪkəl/
  • Formal
translation icon : ahistórico
  • Many critics argue that the film's ahistorical representation of the era misleads viewers.
  • ahistorical approach
  • ahistorical argument
  • ahistorical perspective

So why then, why the inclusion of this story, which at least in your opinion, is so blatantly ahistorical?

Examples

  • Beyond the historical revisionism on taxes and spending is the ahistorical argument that the Reagan years were a model of civility.

    Academic text (2011)

  • In addition, those who entered the lists treated these historical texts in a most ahistorical fashion.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Such a construction would be ahistorical and would essentially represent a policy decision.

    Academic text (1992)

  • But somewhere along the line, they fell asleep, or fell off the boat, and became ahistorical.

    Academic text (1993)

  • On the negative side, they are ahistorical, and some of the essential values of the landform are lost.

    Academic text (1990)

  • However, such criticism leaves disease itself as an ahistorical place marker for other aspects of late Victorian medicine.

    Academic text (2007)

  • As for the media, reporting of the war was sometimes sensationalized and often ahistorical and ethnocentric.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Neil Roberts, author of The Holocene: An Environmental History, characterizes this ahistorical view of nature:

    Academic text (1998)

  • Without the mediative background that is criticism, works become isolated gestures, ahistorical accidents, soon forgotten.

    Academic text (1990)

  • But Arab culture should not be seen in an anachronistic way by vesting it with an ahistorical essence and unity.

    Academic text (2004)

Synonyms

unhistorical
vsahistorical
1 7.3

Not based on real past events

denotes lack of relation rather than factual inaccuracy
ahistoric
vsahistorical
  • Formal
8.5

Not based on history or past events

is the same idea but expressed in a different form
nonhistorical
vsahistorical
6.3

Not about real events from the past

shares this lack of relation but uses a different label
nonhistoric
vsahistorical
5.5

Not connected with real past events

focuses on lack of concern or relation rather than importance
antihistorical
vsahistorical
  • Formal
9.0

Not paying attention to real facts about the past in a book or film

means neutral lack of concern rather than active opposition
suprahistorical
vsahistorical
  • Formal
9.9

Not limited to any time in history

means simply unrelated to history rather than transcending it
unhistoric
vsahistorical
7.1

Not based on known facts about the past

refers instead to absence of concern with history, not falsehood

Antonyms

historical
400 3.6

Connected with the past, for example old events or buildings

How Historical

historical
400 3.6
ahistorical
  • Formal
1 8.4

Surface Forms

ahistorical positive

Morphology

ahistorical = historical (semi-transparent) = a + history + ical

The meaning is largely 'not historical', but the privative prefix 'a-' is less familiar and less productive for many learners than 'un-' or 'non-'.

Etymology

The word ahistorical is made from the part a- meaning 'not' and historical meaning 'about history', and you see a- in words like amoral or atheist. So ahistorical describes something that is 'not related to history' or that ignores historical context.