history

Pronunciation

• enPR: hĭsʹt(ə)rē or hĭsʹtrĭ, IPA ^(key): /ˈhɪst(ə)ri/ or /ˈhɪst(ə)rɪ/
• SAMPA: /"hIst@ri/

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• Hyphenation: his‧to‧ry, hist‧ory

Noun

Singular history

Plural histories

1. (uncountable) History is what happened in the past.

   China has many old books about its history.

   The restaurant is close to the city's history and art museums.

2. (uncountable) History is the study of what happened in the past.

   He is a professor of history.

3. If somebody or something makes history, they do something very important that will not be forgotten.

   She made history by becoming Africa's first elected female president.

4. If somebody or something goes down in history, they are remembered by people because they were very important or well known.

   She'll go down in history as one of our greatest writers.

5. (countable) A history is a book recording things that have happened.

   He was reading a history of Ancient Rome.

6. If somebody or something has a history of something, it's very common for them.

   She has a history of cheating on tests.

7. If you say something is history, you mean it's finished, over, dead, or not important any more.

   OK, that game's history.

8. If you say the rest is history, you mean you don't have to tell about because everyone already knows.

   They just happened to run into each other at the right time, and the rest is history.

Related words

• historian
• historical
• historically
• historiography